Trying again
by Shadow.R.Chaos
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, high school student, ordinary orphan without a past, or is he really? Now there's Devil, Angels, and Youkai trying to get to him while he tries to figure out where he comes and what his meaning in life is. (Under Rewrite)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own a pair of shoes, some clothes, a computer and a cat that I'm pretty sure thinks he owns me. If you sue me you get the cat, he costs more than everything else.

Thanks go out to HurricaneLaurk for Beta reading this for me.

Trying Again

A quiet groan lightly escaped from behind a curtain of blonde locks, as a sixteen year old boy stared blankly at his chemistry text book; the teacher at the front of his class drowning on in a dull monotone that caused everyone in the class to fight against the fringes of sleep. Blinking back a yawn trying to escape his mouth that would draw attention to himself, the teen turned his attention towards the window as the clouds passed across the horizon. Jaded blue eyes, once as bright as the sky, were now chipped with steel gray; showed his overactive thought process as his mind fought with itself between slipping back into memories or refocusing on the lesson.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, the youth looked back at his book for only a second before looking towards the clock hanging above the teacher's head. Seeing it was four minutes until the end of class, the teen started collecting his notes while quickly search the students around him for the sleepers before the teacher noticed them. Spotting one, the teen almost wanted to laugh at who it was.

Grabbing his eraser, the teen snapped his wrist, sending it into the forehead of the equally blonde boy behind him. The recently dubbed 'Prince of Kuoh' jerked awake without a sound, as was becoming a daily occurrence, as soon as he was hit. Blinking quickly to reorient himself, the boy looked up at the clock before easily tossing the eraser into open bag next to boy ahead of him. Muttering an almost silent "Thanks Naruto" as he started packing up as well, the 'Prince' did a quick scan of the class to make sure nobody saw or heard him.

The boy named Naruto shrugged while scratching his whisker-marked cheek to hide his answer, "Welcome Yuto."

The second Naruto finished whispering his reply, the bell rang ending the school day, as well as waking the rest of the class. "Hey Na-" Yuto started only to be cut off as the mostly girl-filled class rushed the handsome young man, asking for dates and other things that couldn't be deciphered due to them all speaking at once.

Snickering at his fellow blonde's curse of fangirls, Naruto silently left the room, bag in hand without anyone being the wiser to his passing, something he'd always had a talent for, even before he'd come to this school. Ever since he was found in what remained of a burnt red and black coat with what was now his name stitched inside of it, his abilities always tended to make people ask questions when they saw them. So to stop the questions he started hiding his skills and abilities as best as he could, something that came to him naturally.

Ghosting his way through the halls of the Kuoh Highschool, Naruto made his way outside so he could start his way home, ' _humph home yeah right._ ' The boy thought to himself while he passed by the mostly girl population of the school, most barely even seeming to notice him, while he used most of the popular students to distract attention away from him. His favorite targets for the attention being the 'Two Great Ladies' of the thrid year group; Gremory Rias and Himejima Akeno.

Shaking away his thought Naruto disappeared into the background, just being missed by Kiba Yuto, as he tried and again failed to catch his follow blonde. 'Tsk'ing quietly the blonde 'Prince' turned away from where he knew he'd lost the infamous 'Ghost of Kuoh', Yuto turn back towards the school grounds and set off to meet his club.

* * *

Naruto didn't know it but his ability to disappear whenever he wanted to had gathered some attention to him from several groups, one of which happened to be his favored attention grabbers. Due to having several classes with the whiskered blonde boy, Yuto had managed to notice some oddities around him. While Naruto didn't stand out in any major ways he seem to blend in to the background too well; Yuto tried to follow him several times during lunch, only to lose sight of him around a corner that was steps ahead of him, but the hall was completely empty when the princely boy rounded the bend. Politely asking others if they seen the boy only gathered negative replies and his own seemingly growing fan base.

What made it harder as well as annoying for the young teen was he was SURE Naruto wasn't doing it to intentionally lose him, the boy just seem to do it out of instinct or habit. Not even his familiar, a Paragon Falcon, was able to keep track of the other second year. None of this was what truly attracted the attention to him compared to the fact that he seemed to produce no aura, which should be impossible; anything that's alive has an aura except seemingly Naruto. ' _What is he? A ninja?_ ' Yuto mentally groaned to himself, keeping his perfectly polite smile in place while he entered the old school building where his club mates where waiting.

As Yuto opened the door, he was greeted with the sight of the rest of the Occult Research Club. The room was a converted class room decorated in Victoriana style furniture consisting of two large couches with a large stylized dark oak table set between them, at the other end and of the table opposite the entrance sat an large mahogany office desk, filled with occult books, mythology books, and a large, ever growing pile of unfinished paperwork. Yuto barely held back his sweat-drop at the last part. Quickly pushing the thought aside, he observed his co-workers of sorts. He was still adjusting to having joined them.

First was a smaller white haired girl, although 14 she looked much younger than she was, and just moved up to highschool first year in the new term. Though her face was blank her golden eyes were focused intently on the cookie she was munching on. This girl was Toujou Koneko. She wore a white and blue school uniform for the middle school nearby.

At the mahogany desk sat the one of the 'Two Great Ladies' of Kuoh Highschool and club president Germory Rias, her long crimson hair flowing down her back, slightly pale skin making a sharp but pleasing contrast as her blue-green eyes moved from her paper work to him with an almost relieved look to them. She wore the female version of the Kuoh uniform with her double D breasts filled out quite completely. Behind her stood the other 'Great Lady' and vise-president Himejima Akeno, her black hair, which was a good deal longer then Rias, was held back in a high ponytail, which she pulled off better than many could. Like Rias she was also in a Kuoh uniform, and her shirt straining E cup chest filled it out. Akeno was also holding a silver serving tray under her bust, pushing it up slightly while she looked up from checking Rias's work.

"Welcome back Yuto." Rias said with a smile, before it waned slightly seeing him alone. "I see you didn't catch him again." Yuto could only sigh and shake his head as he sat on the couch across from Koneko, Akeno serving him a cup of tea as he did so.

"Unfortunately not Buchou." Yuto said with a groan, "He managed to make it out of class while my attention was demanded by our other classmates."

Rias winced slightly, as she realized that this was a hit to his pride, quickly covering the wince with a small but truly kind smile. "It's not your fault Yuto-kun, none of us or our familiars can keep track of him."

"Thank you Buchou." Yuto returned kindly "However, I have three out of five classes with him yet I still can't keep track of where he is most of the day."

"Ara Ara, seems our little Ghosty-chan is living up to his title." Akeno said with a smile that was slightly covered by one of her hands. "What of our other potential guest?"

"Pervert smells like tiger." Koneko said in a monotone voice with a deadpan look.

Rias sighed as she cupped her chin in her hands and stared forwards at the door. "Then we can pretty much knock Hyodo-san off our list. If he had a more powerful gear he'd be worth trying to mesh with our group, however I can't ask you all to put up with his actions; and insults in your case Yuto, if he wouldn't be helpful when the time came."

Yuto gave a strained smile as he remembered what many of the males at the school said about him, it's one of the reasons he was hoping to get Naruto to come join him, he was the only other guy at the school that didn't talk behind any-ones back. ' _Then again I rarely see him talk to any ones front either._ '

Rias sigh and nodded to herself. "Okay, we'll just have to try and focus more of our time into trying to track Uzumaki-san, I'll see if I can talk to Sona about his records to find his address." The others nodded before Rias looked back to Yuto with a smirk. "So what's this I hear about you missing assignments in Chemistry class Yuto-kun?"

Cue pretty boy sweatdrop.

* * *

It wasn't until three days till summer holidays, a full three months of trying, that Naruto finally realized someone was trying to stop from making it out of the school. The Occult Research Club was standing outside the gates while the student council tried to follow his movements inside the school, they were failing but they were getting slightly better at it.

As soon as he exited the doors to the school, hidden among the many students he realized the potential problem, he knew all those that were standing, ahead of the horde he was hidden in, were the 'popular kids'; the attention getters. He still had anxiety problems along with his odd case of PTSD, not that any counselors or doctors could explain his flash back in any form. His fear of being the center of attention, which sprang from nightmare of being attacked by mobs with knives and burned repeatedly, was the reason he stayed away from people.

Narrowing his eyes he slipped around the groups of people that were forming as they stared at ones blocking the gate. Quickly and silently slipping into the shadows of the trees lining the school wall, Naruto jumped the fence using a tree as a booster. Pulling his blazer and school shirt off, Naruto pulled on an orange and black t-shirt from his bag, before moving with the foot traffic to make his way back to the gates and listen in.

"Thank you for your time, I know you all want to be going home after finishing your test, so I'll only make my announcements brief." Shitori Sona, Student council president said loudly before continuing talking. However Naruto ignored her and instead focused his eyes on the two groups of people looking through the gathered students. What really stood out to him was that, other than the searching groups, everyone seemed to be hypnotized by Sona's voice.

Naruto smirked when he saw his classmate Yuto was among the groups searching the students, looking intently at the blonde pretty boy Naruto waited for him to look up. Seeming to feel he was being watched Yuto turned from the students he was searching near to the gates; only for his eyes to shoot open. There standing almost directly behind the student council president was the object of their search, smirking right at him eyes locked and everything; Yuto could almost hear the "got ya." at the look on his face.

Noticing their blonde teammate stop the rest of the ORC followed his sight, only to gape at the scene. Naruto looked at each of them in the eye, smirk clearly visible on his whiskered face. Giving the gathered people a mocking salute Naruto flicked a folded piece of paper towards them, which landed right next to Sona's foot, before stepping back a disappearing to the foot traffic as if he was never there.

Sighing at yet another failed recruitment attempt, which was made worse as they hadn't even gotten to talk to him yet, Yuto made his way over to the paper and picked it up to read:

 _ **Better luck catching me next term Yuto,**_

 _ **N.U.**_

Rias looked over the note she was handed and couldn't tell if she wanted to start twitching in annoyance or smirk at the implied challenge. "Looks like we have some hunting to do."

AN

Naruto isn't going to have Kurama, but he is going to have his Chakra and he'll regain all his abilities he had eventually, but for the first little while I'm going to make him seem like a normal ninja just with extra strength muscles. The biggest thing I want to do is have his memories fragmented, he is going to have them come back to him in flash backs as he goes, and will get them all back at some point. Two major things are his new abilities will be unlocked as soon as he becomes a devil, although they are slightly showing now.

I'm trying to make this Naruto and Rias have a different basis for their relationship, I've seen him die and Rias save him, but him still be rebellious, him be willing to change and be rebellious; which I find makes the least sense and I've seen him stay human. So I'm trying to take a new look at it, at least I think it's a new outlook.


	2. Chasing Shadows

Trying again 2

Chasing Shadows

Naruto yawned as he sat up and ruffled his spiky blonde hair, the covers from his bed pooling around him as he stared blankly ahead; trying to remember why he was awake. The sun was just starting to peek above the horizon, breaking away the night cover sky of the city. Half lidded eyes slowly scan the room, taking in his one bedroom apartment that was covered by the scholarship fund he earned from school; an upgrade from the allowance that had sustained him through grade school.

Wearily getting out of the futon and staggering towards the bathroom for his morning shower, any that saw the blonde haired teen would have swore he was zombie, not a person at the moment. Let it be known that despite his almost unending stamina while awake; Uzumaki Naruto was not a morning person. After 20 minutes in the overly hot shower he returned to his room drying his hair with a large fluffy white towel; his skin only slightly pinked from the shower.

School had ended two days ago, so he was on holidays until he started second year. As he pulled on his clothes he planned what he was going to do. Yuto and his little gang hadn't given up, which caused him to want to grin; if they continued trying but didn't catch him by school start he'd approach them. He was curious what they wanted with him, but considering the fact they had stopped the whole school inside the gates just to talk to him he wanted to see what other lengths they'd go to. ' _Plus this will make good training._ '

Checking himself in the wall mirror he nodded to himself that he was just in the line between standing out in a crowd and blending into the background. His clothes for the day was a tight dark crimson shirt with a loose black coat over it, black pants that had orange flames climbing up the left leg, and matching black running shoes with flame prints on them. Hanging from his neck was the only hint of where he came from, a blue-green crystal dangling from a string. Grabbing a sports bag and cloth carrier for his bokken, the youth trekked his way from his apartment towards the local gym for his daily work out before setting off to track down his hunters.

* * *

It had just rolled around to noon when Naruto spotted his pursuers; they weren't doing the best of jobs hiding themselves, however the cute little white haired girl was disturbingly good at noticing him watching them. Every time he tried to get closer she'd start looking towards where he was coming from as if she knew he was getting close. It was a fun little game of twisted cat and mouse they had seem to have started.

They would track his known places while he would follow them, while trying to get close but stay hidden, though he hoped they wouldn't be doing their search like this all summer because it would get really boring very quickly if they didn't get better.

This did get interesting however when he observed them do some rather odd things during a few close calls. He'd been trying to get closer to them to test the white haired girls perception limits while in the market district of town, he was almost in hearing range when the winds changed direction and blow from behind him all of a sudden. The second the wind reached the group the smallest girls nose twitched before she whipped her head towards him, had he not been looking right at her he would have missed it, but now he knew how she was locating him.

The second close call was when Naruto had started getting a bit cocky and decided he want to play with the girl's sense of smell and started placing himself down wind for a second before ducking into an alley or store to hide. He'd stayed out a second longer than normal to watch them and just managed to see Yuto disappear, had he not ducked behind a dumpster in the alley behind him the princely boy would have caught him. He had to slink out of the other end and double back to find them again as to not be seen.

The defining find however was when the red hair, Rias, slipped out of view of the crowds and lifted her arms above her head. Naruto watched as there was a flash of red light before the sky turned purple and the people around them disappeared. He stayed far enough back that he wouldn't be seen so he didn't hear what was said. However he did see them all stand on a glowing circle before disappearing with another flash, once they were gone everything returned to normal and the blonde was left staring at the area they had just been in. ' _Am I getting hunted by wizards? What the devil is going on?_ '

* * *

Rias groaned tiredly as she dropped herself onto one of the couches of the ORC office. The rest of her Peerage following her example to varying degrees, Akeno sitting next to her with only a slight bit more restraint, Koneko took a spot across from them snatching a cookie and starting to eat it before she even sat down. Yuto was the only one that hadn't sat down, as he was pacing back and forth looking to be in deep thought.

"What the hell is up with that boy?" Rias questioned with her head back facing up, her eyes where closed in an attempt to relieve some of her fatigue and annoyance. "He knows we're looking for him, but he is taunting us always staying a step out of reach." Two other grumbling voices agreed with her.

"No." Yuto suddenly said quietly, having stopped pacing and stared wide-eyed at the door.

"Huh?" The others asked while sitting up a bit to look at the blonde swordsmen. "What do you mean Kiba-kun?" Akeno asked, voicing the question everyone wanted to ask.

"I don't think he's taunting us, I've known Uzumaki long enough that it isn't his style to taunt someone." Yuto explained as he looked over the group. "He's testing us for something. Just like the note said, he wants us to catch him, he just wants to know how far we'll go to get what we what from him."

Rias narrowed her eyes slightly, not out of anger or annoyance, but confusion. ' _Why doesn't this boy make any sense? He act nothing like the any of the boys I've met before._ ´ clearing away her thoughts for now she focused back on her Knight. "What makes you believe that, Yuto?"

"As I've said Buchou, I've watched Uzumaki for most of the year; I dare say I may know him best out of everyone other then himself. He shows all the symptoms of PTSD, hyper-vigilance, moments of unawareness and a reluctance to be the center of attention. Taunting someone or a group would be the same as demanding their attention onto himself, something he's made an effort to avoid at every other time."

Akeno tilted her head slightly. "Ara ara. That would make sense why he wouldn't be taunting us; but you also said he wanted us to catch him, which is the opposite of what you just explained."

Yuto nodded while crossing his arms. "It's his eyes." everyone looked at him confused. "They're empty Buchou, like he has given up on everything. He wants us to show him that what we are after is worth him listening; worth pushing the demons away so he can help us. He's seen that he can't connect to others easily so why should he try again with us; that to him are just more run of the mill high school students?"

"You see yourself in his eyes don't you." Rias said, not asked. Yuto didn't need to answer but nodded anyway.

"Hai. However unlike me, who you saved from the point of death, Uzumaki has survived whatever happened on his own. Since no one was there to help him he's just kept moving forward on his own, he simply made himself disappear into the background to hide better, and became VERY good at it." Yuto explained his thoughts. Akeno and Koneko could only look down as they realized that it seemed another soon to be comrade had another haunted past. Akeno almost snorted that he was titled 'ghost'.

Rias simply sighed sadly, wondering how she kept stumbling onto Peerage members that had such dark and painful pasts. Looking towards her Queen; who looked up and nodded, followed by looking to her Rook who also nodded; for once ignoring her cookie, Rias gave a small sad smile as she turned to address her Knight once more. "So how do you suggest approaching him?"

Yuto smiled slightly, happy they weren't going to stop. "I think we are already on the right track, as we know he knows we're looking for him; however instead of looking in a group we should start tracking him backwards as well as following him."

Rias nodded, "Look for patterns in his movements, see if there's anywhere he regulars so we can wait for him." she seemed to think deeply for a few moments. "However if your description is accurate, which I do not doubt it is, then we must not rush him either as that would only spook him away like a wild animal." The others nodded, however Koneko seemed to be thinking deeply about something, as her normally blank face held an almost unnoticed frown on it. "Koneko? Is something wrong?"

Shaking herself from her thoughts the young white haired girl simply shook her head "No Buchou."

Rias looked on with slight worry before she let it go for now. "Well we are all tired so let's call it a night and return to it tomorrow."

* * *

Over the follow weeks the ORC managed to figure out most of the places Naruto normally visited, though he didn't have a real set schedule. He randomly helped out at the orphanage, picked up trash in the park, worked out at the gym every day, and seemed to have a self imposed duty to patrol the streets and back alleys at night. They could all agree that he was a very nice person, but again they notice all the things Yuto had pointed out.

Naruto had a severe aversion to attention, to the point that more often than not he'd do all his jobs quickly while staying in the background. They'd even seen him catch a purse thief and return the purse before the women realized she'd been robbed. Every mugging or assault attempt he stopped he never stayed long enough to be seen by the victims, only taking out the attackers then fading away. The few times he did interact with people he wore a smile that didn't reach his eyes, but it was one so practiced that unless you realized it was fake you'd never tell, watching him after Yuto's comments Rias could even start to hear how fake his laugher sounded now ' _He should get an award for how skilled he is at acting._ '

Although they didn't get to see much of him, as he was still making a point not to get caught by them, they had started catch glimpses of the elusive boy, and of his abilities that they hadn't been aware of before. He was STRONG, to the point of impossible for human strong, given a running start Koneko had seen him jump to the roof of a two story house, his speed didn't match up to Yuto's but then he wasn't using any sort of energy to help him, it was pure muscle.

Akeno had noted that a week ago he'd arrived at the scene of an attempted rape, something that cause the first true emotional response Akeno had seen from the youth: rage.

 _"I don't know if it was the lighting, my own anger at the scene but I would swear to you that Ghosty-chan's eyes were glowing red and the shadows around him were getting darker. I couldn't feel anything from hi… no I felt like nothingness from him. I don't know how else to describe it, it was like he was a void sucking in all the energy around him." Akeno explained her encounter with a shudder, before another one racked through her as she blushed lightly. "Then he attacked them. I didn't see him move but the screams of pain from those men… Oh my Rias I need to go take a shower."_

She had gotten her hands on the hospital records for those men, two of them would never walk again, or at least not without a limp; another of them had all the bones in his right arm and hand reduced to splinters, making recovery almost impossible. However the apparent leader of the group was the one that got the worst of Naruto's rage, his genitalia was completely torn off and his entire rib cage shattered. The man is in a coma, and if he would live through the experience was still up in the air. Yet again no one saw who did it other than Akeno, and all anyone could describe to the police was a dark shadow attacked them.

Rage issue notwithstanding, Naruto showed signs of possibly having a sacred gear, as only high level gears could give their hosts abilities without being active, however she had never heard of one that could completely hide someone from their senses. Not even tracking spells ever seem to locate him no matter how advanced they were. ' _I may have to call Onii-sama for this one._ ' Rias thought with a wince. ' _I'll try Grayfia-nee first._ '

* * *

Naruto sighed as he walked into his apartment, bokken in hand and sweat dripping off of him. The blonde's hair was matted down across his forehead, almost straying into his eyes as he moved towards the kitchen to get a glass of water. He'd just gotten back from the park he liked to practice in when he had stumbled on one of his neighbors trying to move some new furniture, he didn't even ask as he started easily lifting the heavy stove and oak dressers up the two flights of stairs to their apartment.

Although he always attributed it to working out a great deal, he'd always been much stronger than his peers, he also had better reflexes, hand eye coordination, and was a natural at most martial arts. Although having a passive helpful nature, fighting always came naturally to him, which combined with his heighten strength made him feared by the orphanage that raised him. Hence why he was in his own apartment with an allowance until he finished school, something that; although lonely, seems almost normal for him.

Looking down at the necklace dangling at his chest he wished; not for the first time to know just who, and what he is. Closing his eyes Naruto focused his mind to push away thoughts of where he came from and the weird dreams of being a loud, orange-obsessed apparent super ninja and the nightmares of being attacked and called 'demon'.

Sighing when he realized he was no longer tired, despite having been working out for 4 hours, the teen flicked on the television while stripping of his workout clothes for a clean pair of track pants and flopped down to watch some random anime. One of the few things in his life that he honestly enjoyed; even if it only allowed him to feel a slight amusement, ' _Okay Tenchi, what are you going to do to piss of Ryoko today?_ ' Naruto thought as he got comfortable on his couch, a book in hand for in between shows or re-runs, as he knew he wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

* * *

Naruto was knocked out of his trance-like reading by his cell phone vibrating and starting to sing the opening song to darker then black. Blinking, the blonde flipped the book face down on his coffee table while snagging his phone in its place. "Hello?"

"Another sleepless night?" The caller asked, not even bothering to return the boys greeting.

Naruto gained a smirk while he looked for a clock, already knowing who his caller was without needing to check if the caller ID had picked it up. "More often than not Uncle Az. What can I do for you at… What the hell time is it?"

"It's 9:30." The man answered with a chuckle in his voice. "As for what you can do for me, I was wondering if you'd be up for a visitor for a few weeks."

Naruto's face dropped into a deadpanned look. "You knocked up some women and now they're hounding you for child support didn't you?" Naruto had to pull the phone away from his ear when he heard the man on the other end start howling with laughter.

"No but I'll be sure to come to you if that ever does happen." The man said after getting his laugher under control. "No, I have some business meetings in and around Tokyo so I figured I'd come see how my little nephew was doing." Naruto gained a bit of a smile at the thought of company, even if it was his pervert of a would-be Uncle. "Speaking of women, have you got yourself a girlfriend yet? I'm not getting any younger and could use some grand-nieces and nephews to spoil."

"Way to kill my good mood ero-jiji." Naruto said with a flat voice, only getting another laugh in return. "But I don't mind, when will you be here?"

"It won't be for a few weeks still, I just remembered last time I tried to surprise you you'd moved, and I didn't feel like having to run all over hell's half acre looking for you." His 'Uncle' replied. "You haven't moved again have you?" A trace of weariness seeping in to his voice.

Naruto chuckled in reply, having remembered that event. "No I'm still living in Kuoh, same apartment as last year."

" **Sigh** Thank the gods, I'd hate having to look all over the place again." Naruto only chuckled more. "Did you get my gift?"

Naruto smirked a bit as he looked back at his TV stand, where the gaming console sat, set up but rarely used. "Yeah, but it's not like I use it much."

Az gasped at that. "What? Why not? I sent you all the newest and hot selling games?"

"Uncle, all the games you sent me are two player fighting games."

"So?"

"I don't talk to people, whom am I going to play it with?" Naruto deadpanned again.

"We'll just have to fix that." Az replied with determination. "Maybe I'll take you out to the bars, fix you up with some girls."

Naruto could only shake his head while the other man continued to ramble on about doing things. "I'm hanging up now Uncle."

"WAIT!"

"What's up?"

"Naruto, listen." Naruto stopped when he heard how serious the normally playful man sounded. "I've heard from some friends that some serious stuff is happening near that area. I want you to keep your head down okay?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What kind of 'Stuff'?"

"Stuff that's my business to clean up." Az said. "Please, I don't need you getting caught up in it, just try to keep your head down okay?"

Naruto groaned while he dragged his hand down his face. "I really wish you'd just explain what you do to me."

"I will, just once you get out of college, I even have a job open for you. Just for now, hang on till then, ok?"

"Yeah I got it; I'll try to keep out of it."

"Good." Naruto could honestly hear as the man's smile turned into a smirk. "And when I get there you can introduce me you all the pretty girls at you're school."

"Good bye ero-jiji." Naruto said while simply hanging up on the man. Shaking his head with the small grin Naruto tossed his phone on a charger before heading to the kitchen to make some breakfast. That pervert was the person who had taken over legal guardianship of him when the courts started too really hound him about trying to live on his own. At first their relationship was really rough, as he caught Naruto trying to pick pocket him, so the offer to help was looking on with a great deal of suspicion, but if seemed to turn slowly into an odd peer-like friendship. Naruto truly saw the man as close family, more like a caring but perverted and crazy Uncle, a role the older man accepted and filled readily as he couldn't really see himself trying to be a father figure to anyone any time soon.

Seraph Azazel, the man's name, was apparently a well to do business owner and used his business to pay Naruto's bi-weekly allowance. ' _At least that's what he says._ ' Naruto thought, Azazel often checked in on him, but never let Naruto know just 'what' he did for a living, only promising to tell him when he was older. "Why do I always attract the weird ones?" the youth muttered aloud while finishing cooking his breakfast.

* * *

Yuto yawned loudly as he staggered his way towards the bathroom of his small apartment, his hair askew, dark bags under his barely aware eyes. While Yuto would not truly consider himself a 'morning person' until this summer started he'd never thought it could be this hard to get out of bed. That thought had changed when his club decided to recruit 'The slippery Blonde Bastard' as Yuto was now referring to him in his mind.

Okay so the princely teen was starting to get slightly sour with how easily he was being evaded. Sure, the group was getting more information about him every day, however it was becoming apparent to him they were only seeing what Naruto wanted them to see. The knight realized they were being lead around after the second week, he had tried to approach the area his classmate was in while he was working at the park but every time he was nearing the larger teen disappeared again.

Try to cut him off while walk, he'd simply seem to take another route. Try waiting at one of his job sites he wouldn't show up. Try following him afterward and he'd simply disappear like at the school.

Since they had started trying to track him down Yuto had started doing almost three times his normal work load, as he still did his normal amount of contract requests however both before they started and after he was finished he'd spend as much time as he could trying to find and confront his fellow blonde. Sighing and then yawning again the young swordsmen pushed the thoughts from his mind and started his morning routine.

Two hours later, Yuto arrived at the Kuoh's old school building that housed the ORC room. As he approached the door he could hear voices speaking. Rather than disturb them, Yuto simply leaned against the door frame and listened in.

Inside the ORC room:

Rias was sitting opposite her long time friend, Sitri Sona, student council president; both of whom were staring intently at the chess board between them. "I have managed to dig up some more information on your query."

Rias looked up sharply as she heard this from the black-haired pink-eyed girl. "What did you find?"

Pushing her glasses up while she leaned back into the chair she was sitting in, Sona looked at the excited look on Rias' face and had to hold in a sigh knowing she was going to be slight disappointed in the information. "Not as much as you are likely hoping for, Rias." Rias deflated slightly for a second before looking back with determination.

"I still wish to hear whatever you managed to find Sona, getting anything on Naruto is like pulling teeth from a hydra."

Sona blinked at her friend's blatant frustration over her would-be piece, before shaking it off and narrowing her eyes. Reaching into her hand bag, Sona retrieved a thin file folder, which she laid on the table between them next to the chess board and started to read it out loud. "Uzumaki Naruto, Date of birth; unknown. Place of birth; unknown. Raised until the age of 8 in the Orihime orphanage outside of Okido before being moved into an apartment on his own. The rent, food and all needed supply were paid for through an anonymous source. Grades were always just inside the top ten percentile of his year in all courses. The odd part was he was invited into Kuoh with full scholarship, under Sirzach's grant. However, who invited him is unknown, as is his home address, plus the only information we have for a guardian for him is a Mr. Seraph, no first name; whom we can't find."

Rias narrowed her eyes. "Well at least we know how he ended up here. Do you have any idea why his place and date of birth are unknown?"

"According to the orphanage files he was found in a park after an extremely bad storm. He was found in a circle of burnt grass, wrapped in a red and black long coat with a necklace around his neck. The name he was given was found stitched into the inside collar of the coat. It also says he was tattooed on his stomach, chest and both his arms with tribal, ritualistic circle marks." Sona explained blankly, Rias frowned at this. Not only was he tossed out of the orphanage at 8 for unknown reasons, he was abandoned at birth as well. "I am aware that this only brings up more questions than answers, and I intend to continue to look, however that looks like all the records on him; either someone was doing a very poor job keeping track of him…"

"Or someone is making all his records disappear." Rias finished.

Neither girl said anything after that, both in deep thought over the many mysteries surrounding their blonde haired school mate. Their musing was interrupted by a knock at the door as three other teens entered. The first two were members of the ORC, Akeno and Yuto, the last however was here for the pink-eyed teen. Wearing a white dress shirt tied at the neck line with a dark green ribbon that formed into a large bow shape, with a pleated mid calf blue skirt; stood vice-president of the student council Shinra Tsubaki. Her hair was the same black as Akeno's however she let it flow freely down her back reaching her knees; that combined with her golden orange eyes cover with blue half framed glasses gave her a strong, quiet and attention-getting appearance.

"I hope we aren't interrupting you Buchou." Akeno said politely as the all bowed respectfully to the two seated young women.

"Not at all Akeno, Sona and I were just finishing up. Is there something you need?" Rias said smiling to her queen.

Akeno raised from her bow with a less the pleased look on her face. "Hai Buchou. We just received an Order from the Archduke and I believe both you and Sitri-sama should look at it." As she finished saying this, the ponytailed Queen held out an official looking form towards the now concerned redhead.

Looking at the notice Rias understood the normally smiling girl's different demeanor. Order's from the Archduke were often notices that some stray Devils or rogue demons had been tracked into their territory, while not something that was a daily occurrence they weren't terribly uncommon either. Normally such orders were elimination requests, which this one was as well. What made this order concerning was the depth of the order.

The problem was that it was for a group of high C-ranked stray's following an A-ranked stray's lead that was heading towards her territory. The Order said there were no less than 8 devils, and they we would be on the outskirts of the city by week's end at the latest. Passing the order to Sona, Rias started to rub her head. "I am going to need help with this one Sona, would you and your Peerage be willing to lend us assistance?"

Reading through the order form Sona's eyes widened a slight bit at what was being requested. "I see. Yes Rias my Peerage and I will be there to assist you. When do you plan to go?"

Rias lightly tapped her lip in thought as she considered what to do. "I think Saturday night would be best, let them come and find a location, we can use our familiars to track them down before they settle in and attack while they haven't set up yet. It should allow us surprise with lowest number of human losses."

Sona considered this for a moment before nodded and standing from her seat. "Very well, I will gather everyone and meet you here Saturday afternoon."

"Thank you." Rias said while she too stood to see her guest out. Sona simply nodded with a hint of a smile on her lips before both her and Tsubaki left. Seeing her friend off, Rias let out another small sigh. This would have been easier if they had gotten Naruto to join them earlier even if, but a little, he could have helped guard their back. "I really hope that boy is worth how annoying he is." She muttered before turning to her friends and see deadpanned faces as they nodded in agreement.

* * *

Blonde hair whipped in the wind as Naruto sped across roof tops as he chased his target. It had reached the weekend and while the group had cut back on their chasing him around they seemed more focused and agitated then he'd seen them yet. Combine that with Azazel's warning earlier in the week and the boy was starting to get nervous.

So he had decided to burn off his energy by hunting gangs in the area, or at least ones that tried to move into the area. What he found instead made him worried and upset. He had found a group of ruffian looking elder teens that had been moving through back alleys around the city. Never one to jump to conclusions from looks alone, Naruto was content to only watch them for a couple of minutes before moving on. That thought was ended when he saw what looking to be a massive spider-like 'thing' drop on to group of 5 and wrap them in web before moving back to the rooftop; the whole attack being done in less than 30 seconds.

Shaking off the weirdness of the attack, Naruto regained his wits about him and chased after the spider thing in hopes to rescue the humans from becoming the thing's lunch. This is why he was now jumping from building to building heading towards the forested area on the outskirts of city; that this part of Japan was known for. With one final massive push off of his legs, the whisker marked teen left the town proper and landed on the branch of a tree at the edge of the forest the monster had disappeared into.

Narrowing his eyes and straining his vision, Naruto kept pace as best he could. However, it didn't take him long to find where the spider had gone. Only a minute's fast run into the forest was a large mansion that looked as if it hadn't been used in 20-30 years. Windows were either boarded over or broken, paint was peeling off the grayed and weathered walls. The large iron fence that had surrounded the yard was rusted to the point that it was visibly falling apart. What stopped Naruto from rushing in to follow his target was the grounds inside the fenced in area. The tall grass was padded down in paths showing signs of a great deal of movement recently; signs that couldn't have been made by something that left a foot mark that would have been less than an inch diameter.

Deciding to do the smart thing, the youth moved swiftly to the side of the building. Jumping up to the second story, he pulled himself through one of the broken windows. Staying low and flitting from shadow to shadow Naruto stayed hidden while he made his way around. Every room was littered with broken furniture, garbage and dirty blankets. Showing that this abandoned building housed homeless vagrants before the spider; and whoever came with her, moved in. Creeping his way through the house, Naruto took extra care to make as little noise as possible. His stealth maybe one of his strong points, but as he learned from the white-haired friend of Yuto, sight wasn't the only way to find someone.

Staying as low as he could when he arrived at the entrance hall Naruto spotted his target right away. Now that he was closer he got a better look at the monster. While, he was correct in his assessment of its relation with spiders, only the lower part of the body was like that. The upper body was a female humanoid torso, she had long shiny black hair that reached to her black widow shaped arachnid half, the hair wasn't smooth looking like one would think though, as what looked to be small barbs were sticking out of it randomly. He couldn't make out her face as she looked to be spitting out more webbing cocooning the last of her victims. All five were dangling from the ceiling.

Down on the main floor underneath the dangling cocoons and spider women, was another grouping of 4 more monsters; at least that's how Naruto classified them in his head. Two were matching set of massive thick snake like beings with large swooping horns that reached down almost five feet past their three feet long heads. Their scaled skin was a light sandy brown in colour and seemed to have some sort of gleam to them, their stomachs where swollen from a just finished meal. ' _Cerasters if I remember my Greek mythology correctly._ ' he thought to himself. The two seem to be arguing with each other in Latin, Naruto only knew what language it was because he was attempting to learn it.

The Thing; for that's all Naruto could describe it as, looked like a horrible amalgamation of an orangutan with two heads, clawed lizard feet, scaled octopus tentacles for arms and it stood close to nine feet high. Its fur was caked with so much blood it was impossible to tell what colour it was.

The only one who stood out from the rest was a shy looking young half snake girl with light purple shoulder length messy hair; she looked to be around 12 years of age if she had been fully human. What set her apart from the rest was the scared disgusted looks she was giving the others around her, while being sure to keep herself away from the blood that covered the ground around her. She stayed huddled in a corner of the room by the main entrance keeping her body mostly covered with a dirty old blanket she must have gotten from a likely now dead homeless person.

Getting ready to attack the obvious human-eaters, the stealthy blonde reached inside his coat and pulled out a set of metal plated gloves. While he did train with swords as well as unarmed fighting he had never needed a real weapon before; at the look of this group he was really regretting not having one now. Gloves tightened into place, Naruto moved towards the banister just as the spider women landed with the other three man-eaters; when the front door was blasted open with a strong jet of water. The door crashed into a broken table only just stopping it from crushing the young snake girl that was hiding near it.

All movement inside the building stopped as every living being that was able, turned to stare in wide-eyed shock as a group of four teenage girls, dressed in their Kuoh School uniforms boldly walked into the room. "Stray devils, we, of house Gremory and house Sitri, have orders from the Archduke that you are all to be eliminated." Rias stated loudly stepping ahead of the group an aura of dark crimson power swirling around her.

Naruto's eyebrow started twitching while he held back the urge to smack his head against a wall. ' _Gods she has as bad a flare for the dramatic as Uncle Az does._ ' Just thinking of his eccentric adoptive uncle made Naruto want to hide deeper in the shadows to hide his would be shame, never noticing how dark energy started to seep into the shadows making him harder to see. Pushing his thoughts off Naruto refocused on the soon to be battle, placing names to the girls' faces.

Next to Rais, as always it would seem, was Himejima Akeno; sparks of electricity dancing along her form, which soon turned into a full body light show as her clothes were destroyed and then remade into a classic white top, long red skirt miko outfit. If she realized she was naked through most of the change she didn't show it, or didn't care. Her eyes were wide open as she scanned the room vividly. ' _What is she looking for?_ '

On the other side of the red haired 'leader' was the student council president, Shitri Sona, ' _or is it Sitri? That was the second house she mentioned_ _._ _She's a magic user also it appears, so I guess that explains why she helped stop the school._ ' Her vice-president right behind her with some sort of mirror in hand, as she too seems to be scanning the room, though not nearly as actively as Himejima was.

* * *

The girls themselves seem to suddenly become as weary after Rias opening declaration, her attempt at setting the mood and a slight bit of mental warfare to make the enemy second guess themselves, or become angry and unthinking. This time the effort was in vain; as soon as she closed her mouth and wave for 'emptiness' overcame everyone in the room. Even the stray devils seem to become suddenly uneasy, looking around themselves, hopelessness and fear overtaking their minds.

Akeno barely took the time to think as in a flash she was clothed in her Miko garments, her eyes intently searching for what only she knew the source to be, after all she had experienced this 'nothingness' before. The damning hollow feeling that seemed to make you feel more isolated and alone than words could describe, only sucking all the pleasure out of you as if you'd never feel it again. ' _I know this is his power, but is this how he truly feels?_ '

Shaking herself from her thoughts she slides closer to her King. "Buchou, 'he' is here. I don't know where but this is the feeling I tried to explain to you, his nothingness." The long haired Queen whispered.

Rias eyes widened before narrowing again. "It can't be helped, we'll have to look for him after we finish with the strays. I hope to Satan he's okay." She trailed off to a mutter at the end, only Akeno hearing her whispered hope.

Nodding to each other, the two talking girls quickly turned towards the monsters they had come here to hunt charging up magic circles that appeared in front of them. "Let's finish this quickly so that we may rejoin the others with their battle." Rias stated loudly to shake the other two from the over whelming feeling.

The call seemed to be the queue for both sides to wake up and start their battle; as Akeno released several streams of lightning towards the grouped devils. Rias shot out an orb of the crimson energy that had been swirling around her when she entered. The rogues hadn't sat idle after the call though, the horned snakes flattened themselves to the floor, allowing the streams of electricity to fly over them as the spider women quickly and effectively spun a web in front of them catching Rias' destructive orb before it could move close enough to hurt them. Something that shocked the girls thoroughly, as this had never happened before.

Seeing them stop momentarily, the bloody ape demon rushed forwards whipping its tentacles at the two lead girls. The attack was luckily stopped from reaching it's goal as Tsubaki stepped in front of them erecting a defense barrier, while Sona called forth a magical dragon of water from her own casting circle.

Realizing the need to continue quickly, Rias started launching off smaller fast moving orbs in rapid succession aiming at the two fast moving snakes that were coming from either side of the hulking ape demon that had yet to stop whipping at Tsubaki's strong defense shield.

Akeno, while keeping an eye out for as the yet unseen boy, started to herd the spider towards the far side of the room, away from where the grouped up girls were, using blasts of lightning aimed to move it where she wants or be charred if it stopped to look around. Building up for a stronger attack at the end Akeno stepped in time with the creature coordinating her attacks to help with timing and aim. Even with the effect of Naruto's power, Akeno gained a grin on her face when the spider ran right into Sona's Dragon just as she released her stored up magic lightning on it at the same time. The combined attack killed the spider woman before she had time to fall to the ground.

None of the fighters noticed at the young Lamia wrapped in a dirty worn blanket slipped out the door and flee into the forest.

Rias jumped back, just barely dodging one of the Ceraster's attacks as it lunged at her with its horn, causing a tear to form across the stomach of her shirt. The double team was really starting to wear her down. While her power of destruction was hurting them, the resin coating their scales took the brunt of the damage before the smaller orbs dissipated, and they didn't give her time or stay still long enough for her to charge a larger orb at them. She couldn't even fly to escape their lunge attacks as the hall was covered in the spider woman's webs; she had touched one and it started eating through her clothes, so she didn't take the chance of what it might do to her.

Regaining her balance after landing she looked up in time to see the second Ceraster flying towards her face fangs bared, to sink into her flesh, only to watch, in what seemed to be slow motion, as a massive blast of lightning struck it in its side sending the beast into a wall. Rias, not about to let this chance escape her, rapidly charged a larger orb that was sent towards the fallen snake, while retreating to Akeno's side to take stock of their situation.

She was happy to note they were down to only two creatures left, one of which was being effectively dealt with by Sona and Tsubaki, while with Akeno's aid the last snake shouldn't be an issue. However she should never have dropped her guard as fear gripped her heart and the ground behind her and Akeno exploded outwards. Rias and her Queen could only look up in awed horror, as three jagged barbed tentacle like tongues shot out of the razor sharp tooth filled maw of a Death worm behind them. Rias couldn't even react as the spikes moved at an unreal speed towards her, never even registering that the empty feeling increased by a power of ten for half a moment before she roughly crashed into Akeno, causing both to be flung out of the Death Worm's grasp.

Naruto started to wonder if he was even going to be needed as he watched the four on four fight taking place below him. After their grand entrance the girls quickly gathered their wits and started to attack in tandem against the enemy group. Even if there was one or two spots they could have done better; and not stopped to gawk at something, he had to admit they showed a lot of promise. Something was off though; he could feel SOMETHING was nearby lurking just beyond his senses. It was when Rias landed beside her black hair friend that Naruto saw it. The ground just outside the front door sank down a few inches; nothing major but noticeable if you watched it.

Naruto was moving before the girls even realized what was happening; ebony flames exploded from his body as he raced the rising beast about to devour the two girls. Realizing he wasn't going to be able to get both of them out of the way of the attack if he picked them up he had to make a choice. ' _No choice at all._ ' he thought with a grim smile as he slammed into Rias with his shoulder, transferring all his gained momentum into the shocked girl, letting the beasts attack skewer him through the chest, one destroying his heart while the other two ripped through his stomach. "Disappear." he whispered while glaring up at his cause of death, wishing to take it with him before his eyes closed and he was no more.

Rias and Akeno could only stare in shock, along with everyone else in the building, they were sure they were about to die. Death worms were S-class monsters, creatures touched but Hades himself. The slime that coats them is highly magic resist and can make them difficult to track even the expert hunters. Although not considered sentient they are intelligent enough to set traps to ambush their pray. Instead of seeing the inside of such a beast's stomach though, here they were watching as the person they'd being trying to follow and catch was now being punctured full of holes in their place, while flames of the purest black flowed up and around him. His almost dead body looked up at the monster with a deathly grim smile and whispered something; what happened next would be burned in to them minds of the girls for the rest of their days. The flames took on a life of their own as Naruto's body fell away. Twisting and turning in on itself the fire slowly turned to the shape of a western Dragon, that roared at the worm before flinging itself down the beasts throat. The Death worm's dying screams were akin to a chainsaw scrapping across an unbreakable chalk board.

The four girls fell to their knees while covering their ears hoping to block out the noise, while the ape demon tried to attack the worm that was causing it pain. Just as the ape was five feet way the worm's body exploded into black flames taking the ape with it, leaving only a hole in the ground, and the, now dead, body of Naruto Uzumaki in the middle of a circle of burnt wood.


	3. Changing Tides

AN: A few quick notes for all the reviewers that asked about it, No Naruto is not going to be a devil. Rias is going to try to make him one, but end result is not what she expected to happened and no he will not be a servant. I honestly doubt Naruto could not be considered Stray by a week's end if someone tried to collar him.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool DxD, I do own too much coffee and a computer.

Also thanks again to HurricaneLaurk for Beta reading this for me.

Trying Again 3

Changing Tides

When Naruto opened his eyes once more it was to a dingy stone brick ceiling and walls, rather than his off white tiled ceiling of his apartment that he'd become accustomed to seeing. The area was surprisingly clear to see even if there was no true light source; the bricks themselves seem to be giving off the light. Slowly rising into a seated position the blonde youth tried to get a better view of his situation, to hopefully understand what had happened. The structure he was in was massive, stone walls easily reaching 25 - 30 feet in the air before connecting to a slightly arced ceiling that spanned 15 feet wide; each stone seemed to vary in size yet was clearly uniform in cut giving a unique yet strong and stable feel to the walls and floor. Looking forward and backwards clearly showed this was a tunnel of some sort, but where it lead and how he ended up here wasn't as obvious.

Standing slowly and moving towards the nearest wall he examined the stones before him more closely showed that they were filled with black pulsing veins of energy that glowed white at their outlines. The white glow was what allowed the area around him to be seen. Sighing as there was no clue as to where he was Naruto focused on recalling what his last memories were. Gasping, the boys' hands flew to his head as he was assaulted with two over lapping sets of memories flashing before his eyes.

The first set was of him standing above his red haired and black haired fellow students, them all with shocked looks of horror on their faces, while he had three bone spear like object protruding from his abdomen, one of which clearly having stabbed through his heart. Ebony flames licking up his body yet causing him no pain.

The second set of memories where of him standing inside a golden construct, instinctively knowing it was of a nine tailed fox, while glaring at a three eyed women with long pale purple hair. One of the constructs clawed paws was digging through her body while blood leaked out of her lips, the landscape around the two was nothing more than a barren crater filled wasteland. The women's fierce glare was unnerving, even while she was clearly dying. She spoke; Otsutsuki Kaguya her name jumped to mind, but Naruto couldn't hear what was said, only to watch the effect. The air between them was torn open into the blackness of space, pulling his body in before he could even hope to fight it; both fighters soon drifting in the endlessness of the void. His last view was of Otsutsuki glowing with multi-colored energy then he was back in the tunnel once more.

Panting heavily to try and catch his breath Naruto leaned back against the wall. "What the hell was that?" While he knew the first set was his death last night, the second set made no sense to him; yet felt as real as the first. Taking a few minutes to reorient himself and get his breath under control Naruto stood up once more and muttered aloud "Well I'm dead." the statement was so deadpanned even the blonde wanted to face palm himself.

Looking around to see nothing around Naruto get a helpless shrug of his shoulders and turned to start walking down the tunnel not really caring where it was to lead. His heels gave off a dull thud as he walked, normally too soft to hear even over a soft breeze, however with the dead silence of the caverns' building every moment the boy made could be heard with crystal clarity.

After what seemed to be hours of twists and turns, innumerable side tunnels that glowed with eerie colours, the tunnel finally let out to an immeasurable chamber. The walls that surrounded the tunnel he just exited just shoot straight up stretching beyond sight, while having a slight curve on each side of him they still disappearing from view into a radiant darkness. "Ok if this is supposed to be Hell I'm really not impressed." Naruto grumbled to himself while looking around at this apparent center chamber.

A deep loud chuckling reverberated throughout the room quickly made Naruto reset his guard while his eyes whipped across the camber looking for the source of the noise. " **Sorry Kit, however this isn't Hell, it's your mind.** "

Following the voice back; to what he could only assume was the middle of the extensive room, the blue eyed blonde was greeted with a sight that he couldn't have imagined every laying eyes on. Stepping out of infinite darkness was a massive dark orange fox with black lines running from around its amused garnet eyes off to its overly large ears, nine long thick tails that didn't want to stop moving slowly swirled in the air behind it as it walked.

Naruto stared up at the fox that easily outsides the tunnel he just left by at least five times, and couldn't stop his mouth from running, as his brain didn't seem to want to work. "How the FUCK did you get that big?"

The fox seemed taken aback by the rather random question stared at the newly arrived human. " **I ate all my vegetables?** " It asked back in a seemingly unsure tone, it's deep growling voice reverberating off the walls.

Finally getting his brain back in working order Naruto closed his eyes tightly and counted backward from ten, calming his mind to get it work through everything again, while stepping back into the opening from the tunnel. Once he was sure he could think again the boy reopened his eyes and looked up at the massive beast, noticing for the first time that its front paws were shaped more like hands then paws of an animal. "I'm guessing that you're more than you appear, so let's start easily and work our way up. What and who are you?"

The fox grinned even if it looked a little nostalgic and remorseful, before slowly laying down so they both had an easier time looking at one another. " **At least you're more thoughtful this time around kit. My name is Kurama, Kyuubi no Yoko; strongest of the Biju, and at one time your partner in combat.** "

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this comment; relax his stance only slightly at seeing the creature talking without hostility. "Biju, Tailed Beast? I've never heard that term before, and what did mean by Partner in combat? As far back as I can remember I've always been alone."

Kurama's eyes closed while sighing deeply. " **You are both right and wrong in that regard Kit. You don't remember it but we've been together for over 30 years.** " Red eyes opened and stared directly into blue shocked once, while a large furred hand came up in a 'Stop' motion. " **Allow me to explain before you start asking questions, I only have limited time with you and there is a lot we have to cover.** " Seeing Naruto close his mouth and nod Kurama continued. " **First off, I'm not really here I'm still back in the Elemental Nations, I simply stole this idea from your father and left a piece of my soul inside of you. Also want to say that you won Naruto, that may not make sense to you now but it will once your memories start to return more clearly to you. Now getting back on topic; you are a lot older then you think you are kit, I've watched most of your memories of this life the second I became active and all those dreams you've been having are really flashback to your former life.** "

Naruto blinked in surprise, he'd been a hyperactive orange wearing idiot in his last life? ' _Man I must have been an idiot._ ' he blinked again as his thought echoed across the chamber causing Kurama to let out a loud boisterous laugh.

" **Yes Kit; you were very much an idiot back then, not completely your fault but you didn't really do much to change it either.** " The fox explained with a grin that showed he was insulting the boy, but wasn't doing it to truly offend him; and received a lifted middle finger in reply. " **Maybe if we had more time.** "

Naruto quickly spoke up before Kurama to continue. "Wait, I didn't ask but are you male or female?"

This time it was Kurama's turn to blink as it had never really been asked that before. " **I'm Chakra Kit, I can take any gender I choose** **.** "

"Oh, sorry I just didn't want to end up offending you by using the wrong pronoun." Naruto said unconsciously rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

The large fox had to hold back a grin as it saw a sign of the old Naruto staring to slip into the boy. Shrugging its massive shoulders Kurama let out a small chuckle. " **Don't worry about it Kit, you're likely the first being that ever asked and didn't just assume I was male; made me want to shift to female just to mess with everyone perception.** " Naruto snorted slightly while a grin showed itself, being this close to both sets of memories was affecting the boy's personality. " **However that is something for another time, when you arrived here did you see any memories?** "

Naruto furrowed his brow as he recalled both set of memories. "Yes, I saw myself being killed twice; once by the worm to save my classmates, and another time by a weird chick with three eyes."

Kurama snorted. " **Only you would refer to Otsutsuki Kaguya, the Rabbit Goddess, as 'A weird chick with three eyes.'** " The massive fox said still laughing slightly. " **However that isn't quite correct, you didn't die from Kaguya's attack; hell it wasn't so much an attack to kill you, it was her intent to unmake you.** " Naruto looked both confused and slightly worried at that comment. " **Had the attack succeeded time would have rewritten itself as if you never had been born, something that we; the Biju, didn't want to let happen. So with all of our combined will, and more power than any of us thought possible to give we managed to stop the effects, but not without consequences to you.** " Naruto could feel the sorrow coming of the Biju and took a step forward, only for the Fox to continue his tail. " **Your body reverted back to a childlike state and all your Chakra and abilities you gained were lost, as well as you were affected by your time in the Void.** "

Naruto's stride took him right to Kurama's right pinky 'finger' and sat beside it while looking up into the shining red slitted eyes. "What do you mean I was affected by the Void? You say that like it's both good and bad."

Kurama's grin was so big now its eyes were forcing themselves closed. " **You seem so much smarter now that you stop to think about things Kit.** " calming itself down Kurama looked to the boys deadpanned face and had to hold back laughing again. " **You likely already now most of the changes that happened to you, increased bone density, heavily compacted muscle tissue and the Void flames that surrounded you during your brush with death by that worm.** " Naruto nodded as he though back on events in his life that proved those points, before his eyes narrow when Kurama said 'brush' instead of just death. " **However now it seems someone wants you to have a third chance at life, as they have somehow restarted your body, keeping your soul inside of it, however they are trying to force you to be connected to someone, some sort of subservient bond, both I and the Void energy in you are naturally resisting it. I'm going to warn you now though, whatever they were trying to make you is also being changed by the Void energy and my own Demonic Chakra so I have no idea what you are going to become, but you'll be no one's slave.** "

Naruto looked up into Kurama's defiant yet concerned eyes and grinned. "Thanks for the save Kurama."

The Fox gave a happy smile in return. " **No problem Naruto, you fulfilled your promise to us proving yourself to be worthy of our friendship. I'll always help you in any way I can, speaking of which, we left you with some presents. Since you connected with my Chakra you can use them now.** " Kurama said with a grin, pride leaking through in massive amounts. " **We couldn't give you as much as we wanted to, as the others only had a small amount of Chakra to work with until they could be reborn, but they mostly helped with what they could. So for starters I left you with three full tails worth of my Chakra, convert to link to you and make your body produce its own Biju like Chakra; which is thicker and more powerful than human Chakra, so with the others you now could be consider a new four tails.** " It was clear the fox was happy to have given more than the others, Naruto only smiled in gratitude, before Kurama continued. " **We also managed to make your affinities as strong as we could however were only could do so with Wind, Fire and Lightning. Now the last three things are from me strictly so pay attention.** "

Naruto could hold back a snicker at the prideful fox. "Hai Hai Kurama-Hime." He said while sitting up straight with a mock salute.

Kurama snorted at the princess crack but grinned all the same. " **Okay, first I've reactivated the advanced version of the Uzumaki regeneration you had back in the Elemental Nations, you'll be by no means immortal but killing you is going be much harder. Your healing is tied directly into how much energy you have, the more tired you are the slower you'll heal.** " The fox stopped to make sure Naruto understood, which was answered with a nod. " **Next is that I've given you my eyes. I'm going to ignore that indignant look and explain; focusing Chakra into your eyes will allow you to see energy, speed up your perception of what's happening, give you enhanced night vision and see at greater distances. You won't have the photographic memory of the cursed Uchiha clan's Sharingan, however you also won't have to worry about going blind either.** " Kurama explained, leaving out how the Sharingan could blind someone. Naruto blinked at how much was usable with his new eyes, and muttered a small 'thanks' after Kurama had finished explaining the fox's eyes abilities. Smiling smugly for a minute Kurama remembered what the last gift was and its smile dropped a slight bit. " **The last 'gift' is more a return on what was you're to start with. I took all the memories from your life that I had, which I got through you living them, as well as everything I could get from my other half and am giving them back to you. So instead of just random flash back in dreams you're going to regain all you memories without fail; you'll still have to wait as to just suddenly remember everything would just short circuit your brain.** "

This time Naruto could stared in wide-eyed shock, tears slowly trickling down his face completely unnoticed **.** Years of never knowing anything about himself, of fearing what 'wrong' with him, all his questions about everything about himself was going to be answer by this being in front of him. Losing himself completely in them moment Naruto jump forward on top of the Fox's nose and hugged it, repeating 'thank you' over and over as his silent tears continued. Kurama said nothing and simply waited for its one time friend to come back to himself, as stated earlier the Fox had relived Naruto's life while waiting for the boy to arrive, it knew all too well the emptiness Naruto had experienced this time while growing up again. The Fox could only hope that his memories would help him regain that spark of life he'd lost.

It took a few minutes before Naruto regained control of himself and sat up, wiping away what was left of the tears as he did so. "I'm sorry about that Kurama, I just…"

" **I get it Kit.** " The fox said, waving off the apologue. Turning its head back towards where its tails were both saw them starting to slowly fade. " **Looks like my time is up Naruto, before I go though just a heads up, your empathy was always your own ability my Chakra simply enhanced it; this is going to happen again once you can use your own Demonic Chakra correctly, so don't be surprised. You where always a good person Naruto, don't let this life change that, open and meet people, loneliness can be filled with friendship as you always used to say.** " Kurama said as the fading finally reached its head. " **Come back to visit once you can Kit, we miss you.** "

"I will, I promise." Naruto said, Kurama smiled widely before its head disappeared causing the boy to fall to the stone floor below. "I won't give up until I do." A glint of fiery determination appeared in his eyes; his pupils stretching into slits and a small bit of the gray started to brighten to its bright blue colour. With his vow made and a goal finally in mind Naruto's body followed Kurama's example and started to fade away.

* * *

When Naruto finally regained awareness he could instantly notice several things wrong with his situation. The first thing that he felt was off what he was in a bed instead of his futon, he could tell just by how soft what he was sleeping on was and how badly his back wanted to crack because of it. The next thing he noticed was that the ceiling was once again wrong for what his apartment should be, though tiled this time they where industrial tiles much like what is found in schools or hospitals, alluding to what he remember was not a dream or nightmare.

Doing a mental check of his body informed him that not only was most of his wounds healed; he was also completely naked and not alone. Slowly lifting his head and looking down towards his bed mates Naruto almost let his eyebrow twitch before he managed to stop the urge; using his right shoulder as a pillow was a mop of scarlet hair, one so bright that there was no question in his mind who had taken up that spot; while on his left black hair could be seen sprawled all across the bed giving the dark red blankets a onyx cloak. The sensations he was getting through his body let him know that they were equally as naked as him under the covers.

' _I'm not sure I want to know what's going on._ ' Naruto thought as he looked back at the ceiling, while not against the idea that he may have lost his first time to a threesome, he was a healthy teenage male after all; he had hoped he'd have memories to go with the experience. ' _Let's just ignore the fact I was dead when it likely happened._ '

Shaking away the thoughts, as he really didn't know anything about what happened, so he was likely exaggerating his thoughts of what took place. Slowly and carefully the blonde teen began to extract himself from the mess of limbs that enclosed him; he'd just gotten to his knees and ready to stealth fully find his clothes when a voice allowed him to know he'd been caught. "Is Ghosty-kun not even going to say goodbye?"

Looking back to his dark haired bedmate, whom now had her eyes locked on him with a small smirk playing across her lips; her head was lifted to rest on her right palm while her left was laid out across her side. It took almost all his will power not to let a blush to form and his eyes drop to where the blanket had fallen away from her body exposing her lushes' breasts to the cool morning air. "I didn't want to wake you." Naruto said while locking his slitted eyes with hers, before his head tilted slightly in confusion. "Ghosty?"

Akeno giggled lightly into her hand while sitting up completely in bed as the only male in the room stepped back off of it and to the floor. "Ufufuf, it seems you don't know your own reputation."

Naruto shot her a raised eyebrow while he found his underwear and pants near a two seated couch near the door to the room. "I know I try to keep a low profile but this is the first I've heard myself referred to as a Ghost Himejima-san."

Akeno pouted slightly. "Ara ara, that won't do Ghosty-kun. You save both mine and Buchou's lives; you don't need to be so formal. Please call me Akeno." While she said this she moved herself to the edge of the bed, subtly waking Rias as she went.

Naruto was at this point looking at what was left of his black shirt and coat that he'd been wearing the night of the fight; both had three gaping hole through them from front to back and enough dried blood to give them a red tinge. He could only frown in annoyance at the lost of one of his favorite coats before throwing it back on to the couch. "Well it wasn't like I could just let two cute girls die; the world would be a lesser place without you in it." He said without really thinking about his words, not noticing the slight blush that crossed both Akeno's and the now awake Rias faces.

"We still can't thank you enough for that Naruto-kun." Rias said, causing the blonde to look back from trying to find something to wear and look at her slightly oddly. "Something wrong Naruto-kun?"

"Say 'thank you' again." He said still with a slightly perplexed look.

"Thank you?" Rias repeated questioningly.

Naruto nodded sharply. "That's enough for me; you're welcome." he stated that with such finality it was as if the whole debate was over in his mind. The girls were left with stunned looks of shock while Naruto returned to thinking about what to do about clothes. "Mind telling me where we are?" he asked over his shoulder, "and maybe covering yourselves up?"

Rias narrowed her eyes at his simple dismissal of her thanks, something that didn't sit right with her, however she'd have to come back to that; as much as her first thought was that he was dismissing the value of saving her she remembered almost nothing about this boy made sense so she'd have to wait and see before deciding how to react. "We are in my private bedroom in the old school building. Nobody knows where you live so we brought you here to heal you."

"Ah, thank you for that." Naruto said simple while moving to look out the window while the girls dressed; having given up on finding any clothes for himself.

"Ghosty-kun seems to be taking this rather well." Akeno said with a small grin.

Naruto simple shrugged "I was dead, now I'm not; there isn't any point thinking on it more than that."

Akeno's eyes narrowed at the flipped response. "That's it?"

"Yep, that's what it boils down to." Naruto said half heartedly "Besides you magic girls seem to be able to bring people back."

"And if we couldn't?" Rias questioned cutting off Akeno's growing anger at the boy.

"Then I died knowing I did something worthwhile." Naruto only turned his head to look over his shoulder while his eyes locked with the red heads; both Akeno and her felt the unspoken and surprisingly hurtful words 'better me then you'. Yuto's words flashed through their mind again reminding them that although still breathing Naruto was almost dead inside, having nothing to really live for.

Sighing as he saw both girls started to sadden at his words; Naruto pinched the bridge of his nose before facing the girls, who had managed to put on most of their school uniforms. "So can you tell me what I've missed?"

The question was enough to knock the girls out of their funk, Rias taking the lead. "Right, let's head to the club room and I'll answer any questions you have." She said to the boy before turning to address the other girl. "Akeno would you please go and get Naruto-kun another shirt?"

Akeno smiled happily "Of course Buchou. I'll also prepare some breakfast for us."

"Thank you Akeno." Rias replied with a kind smile on her lips. Naruto was about to say something but his stomach beat him to it as it growled loudly enough that even Naruto could do nothing more than stare in shock.

"Ufufuf, it seems Ghosty-kun is very hungry as well." Akeno giggled out as she exited the room without looking back.

Naruto's head tilted slightly while he scratched his head. "I still don't get where the 'Ghosty' name comes in."

Rias smirked slightly while started out into the hallway "Really? I think it's kind of fitting."

Naruto rolled his eyes while falling in step behind the girl. "Whatever you say Red."

Rias's eyebrow twitched. "Red?"

Reaching out the boy twirled a lock of her hair while copying her smirk. "Yeah, it's kind of fitting." Her groan at having walked into that joke was all the answer Naruto needed to know he'd just won this round. Looking around while they moved through the halls gave Naruto his first question he wanted to ask. "So why do you have a bedroom in Kuoh's old school building?"

Rias smiled as she pushed open the door to the club room. "We of the Occult Research Club actually have the entire old school building to ourselves in any way we require it." She waved her hand in a bit of a show to present the room for Naruto's inspection, hoping to awe him a bit.

Naruto's eyes scanned the converted classroom quickly, making mental note of the large magic circle that took up a fair amount of floor space at the far end of the room, right in front of the large oak desk, as well as the comfortable couches near the window. He could make out runic symbols spread across most of the blackboards the lined the walls as well as small tables set up like alters with candles and more magic circles on them. The only thing that throws of the whole gothic motif and causes Naruto to twitch at something his Uncle would likely do was the bathtub and shower set up in the corner of the room right next to the door to the room; it didn't even have a divider wall set up for modesty only a curtain. "Well you certainly went all out to make it some ones perfect play room, if it's a Goth's or a Perverts I can't tell."

Rias smile grew right up till she heard the end of his comment, causing her smile to drop and her almost start to pout. "Hey this isn't a pervert's play room!"

Naruto deadpanned at her while pointing to the shower. "Red, your club is made up of three extraordinarily attractive women and a pretty boy and you have a shower in the middle of your club room. I'd imagine any of the Pervy Trio would die of nose bleeds the second they walked in this room." With his eyes locked on Rias the boy didn't notice the slightly blushing young white haired girl make her way to the door of the club, having just heard his off the cuff complement on her looks. The fact that he said it without meaning for her to hear made it more meaningful as he wasn't using it to get on her good side.

Even Rias' couldn't completely stop the pink that dusted her cheeks from his sincere complement on her looks. While many had called her good looking in many flowery words, they all had done so with intent behind them, be it to soften her up of something or to try and smooth ruffled feathers. Naruto, however, said it bluntly and factually as if he didn't even know he had complemented them.

"Is that all you can say about me Naruto? Just 'a pretty boy'?" Yuto's voice drifted in as he appeared in the open door way.

"I could call you a narcoleptic pretty boy if Sciences class is any indication." Naruto countered with a grin till he saw the bags under the other boy's eyes as well as the fatigue he was trying to cover. "Although you look like shit right now, when was the last time you slept Yuto?"

"The day before we brought you here; so about three days ago, give or take a few hours." The rough looking knight said with an easy shrug. Yuto chuckled at Naruto's wide eyed stare "What can I say you are the closest thing to a guy friend I have, I was worried."

Naruto's hand once again returned to pinching the bridge of his nose while he took in the fact that he had been asleep for three days. "Thank you for your concern, but as you can see I'm still here, and I won't be insulted if you fall asleep on the couch." Noticing the young white hair girl that had been able to sniff him out during their 'games' over the summer had sunk in during his talk he looked over at her. Furrowing his brow in thought Naruto tried his best to connect the young girls face with a name, only to keep coming up blank.

"Her name's Toujou Koneko, she'll be a first year when classes start up again." Yuto spoke up answering Naruto's unspoken question, causing the larger blonde to look at him. "You were trying too hard to remember something while staring at her. You saw her with us when we were looking for you so I assumed you thought she was already in Kuoh and just couldn't remember her."

"Ah, thanks."

During the two boys back and forth Rias made her was around to the desk and leaned onto the corner with her arms crossed under her bust, a small grin crossing her lips at the two's interaction. She let them trade barbs back and forth like they were old friends; however she had to push back a frown that tried to make its way to her face when she notices how Naruto never let anyone within two feet of him and always kept his back to a wall, his muscles where also visibly tensed as if he was ready to fight or run at a moment's notice.

It took around ten minutes for Akeno to rejoin the group carrying a long tray of food for everyone there, even as Naruto wasn't sure if he should sweatdrop or blush as he saw that she had his new shirt tucked between her breasts the end of it hanging down her shirt. Once she had set out the food he just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Ara ara, is there something I can help you with Ghosty-kun?" She asked looking as innocent as she could.

Deciding if he should play along or not took Naruto a few seconds to think on; while he was quite used to verbal sparring because of his adoptive uncle he was also very hungry, finally he decided to eat before he got into any more topics of conversation, so with a shrug he sat himself down beside Koneko. "Nah, Thanks for the food though."

Akeno pouted a bit that he didn't take the bait but it quickly shift to a beautiful smile while she didn't remove his new shirt. "You're quite welcome Ghosty-kun." Playing the part of dutiful hostess, Akeno made quick work to serve everyone their share of the food before sitting herself down across from their guest. The black haired girl took a bite of her eggs before she looked at the others with a look of pride as she saw them all enjoying the food she'd just finished making; only to stop and stare with shocked wide eyes as Naruto returned his now empty plate to the table.

"Thank you Akeno that was delicious." Naruto said, causing everyone to look over at him in surprise.

"Did you even taste it?" Koneko asked in a quiet awe filled voice.

Naruto tilted his head to look down at the girl. "Of course I did, I said it was delicious didn't I?"

Rias sighed before going back to her food. "I'm not even going to ask."

"Why does everyone say that?" Naruto asked while he started pulling his new shirt on. Rias looked up and was going to comment before her voice failed her; whipping her head back to Akeno who was still looking at the empty plate, not even noticing that the whiskered blonde had managed to steal his shirt away from her. Looking back at to him only to see he was at the door with a smirk on his face.

"Wai…" Rias tried to say before Naruto held up his hand to stop her.

"I know you're here, but I've been out for three days if I don't get back and call Uncle Az the perv will start sending out a search party." The blonde explained as everyone was starting to come back to their senses. "I'll be back in a few hours, after I shower and get some new clothes." With those final words the blonde disappeared again not even leaving a trace that he'd been there.

Yuto tried to race to the door to catch him, but even if the knight was faster, the blonde always seem to disappear without fail. "Slippery Blonde Basterd." The princely boy muttered to himself as he turned back to the others. Giving out a resigned sigh he returned himself to his meal, intent on finishing it and finding a place to have a nap before the other boy's return.

Rias only matched the boy's sigh, "At least he said he'll be back this time, we won't have to try and catch him." Everybody there let out a sigh of relief at that before getting back to their breakfast; no one noticed Koneko's furrowed eyebrows as she looked at her plate in thought.

* * *

Naruto let out a soft sigh as he stepped out of the shower in his apartment, using his fluffy white towel to dry his ever messy hair. It was just over two hours since he left the old school building after eating the relatively small breakfast given to him. Once he gotten back to his place he'd made himself a much larger more filling breakfast from his kitchenette; after his fill he'd search for his cell phone to message his benefactor only to find it was broken during the incident.

Sighing at having another expense to deal with the blonde haired teenager left the kitchenette/living room area of his small apartment and entered his bedroom. Stepping over his queen sized futon that took up most of the floor space Naruto flipped open his laptop computer; it only took a handful of minutes for the youth to type up a quick email to his 'Uncle Az' informing the man of his broken phone, and how he'd been busy with people from school and hadn't been back to his apartment till now. ' _Not a lie in any way he simply doesn't need to know the why._ ' Naruto thought with a smirk, as he always considered keeping his night time activities secret as pay back for not being told what the man did for a living.

Now he once again was in his room, though in the process of getting dressed, looking back at the reply email. Most of which was Az complaining to him about how he when through so many cell phones; though he was thanked for emailing him this time and asked to send his new number once he got a new phone. " _Money has already been wired to your account, STOP BREAKING THEM!_ " was the last sentence in the email. Naruto snorted; even if he'd told the man to stop paying for everything, or let him use his 'allowance' to pay for the phones or other things it never happened. The man had no since of timing either, most years he got three or four gifts for his 'birthday' though he had yet to have one arrive in the same month as it, Christmas gift always arrived between April and July anything else he was just the man made up an excuse to send it random knickknacks he got for no reason.

Much of which was now collecting dust in the boy storage unit or closet; the blonde really didn't bother with decorating nor could he understand the reason for it, all his walls were bare of anything other than paint. His kitchen was always clean of any dishes or stray papers, his coffee table holding only the television remote unless he was in the room. The only item that showed any sort of insight into the teens' personality was the bookshelf that was over stocked with books.

Shaking off his musing Naruto finished dressing himself, this time in simpler clothes, plain black pants, his flame patterned shoes, and a dark blue hooded shirt with a picture of a fox on the front. Patting his necklace once more the boy nodded while grabbing the borrowed shirt, it was time to learn what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

A suffering groan sounded from a frustrated red head as she rubbed her temples, attempting to relieve the pain of her brother induced headache. While she did love her family, her brother's incessant stupidity grated on her nerves whenever she tried to discuss something important. It had taken a full hour and a half after Naruto had run off just for her to ask him to set up an appointment with Ajuka Beelzebub for her, even then it had taken Grayfia to make him stop complaining that she never wanted to talk to him long enough to listen to her.

Rias looked up at her Peerage and couldn't stop the slight grin that grow across her lips despite the headache; ever since they had started chasing the whiskered blonde she could see the changes in her group of friends but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as right now. Yuto, the ever proper Knight, was sprawled out over one of the two couches snoring loudly, his shirt half rolled up his chest scratching his stomach.

Koneko, the ever blank faced seemingly emotionless Rook, was often seen almost pouting while thinking about something, often losing herself in thought or staring at the maps of town they had used to try and keep track of him or find his home. Whenever she was asked about it, Koneko would often say it was nothing, the most anyone could get out of the reserved girl was that she was trying to figure out why he smelled familiar. Today she was curled up in the couch across from her snoring Knight, twitching whenever he got too loud.

Akeno was standing behind her as always, but you could clearly see she was pouting about how Naruto had gotten away from her teasing so easily, and without anyone even noticing. "Do you see something funny Buchou?" the ponytailed girl asked, drawing the red head out of her thoughts.

"Not funny per-say. I just think it's amusing that Naruto can cause this much of a reaction without even fully joined us yet." Rias said while turning to look up at her long time friend and Queen; before Akeno could comment however both girls jump in surprise as a voice from the doorways called out to them.

"You say that like me refusing never crossed you mind Red." The subject of the two's conversation said as he stepped into the now open doorway. Naruto smirked as he saw the two girls he'd woken up beside jumped when he announced his return; enjoying a little payback for them teasing him this morning.

Rias' eyebrow twitched as she glared at the smirking blonde boy that was now leaning against the doorframe to the room. Her irritation only lasted till Yuto released a snort before turning his head the other way and started snoring again, with caused the three people still awake in the room to snicker at his expense. Once they calmed down again Rias spoke again. "So are you going to stay here this time or vanish on us again?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at her question "I'll listen to what you want to say but I promise nothing yet."

Rias blinked in surprise at his evasive answer, it took her a few seconds before she even realized what he was talking about not having intended to make it sound like a trap. The red head released another soft groan as she thought about how this conversation was likely to go with someone as paranoid as Naruto was coming off, and considering what had happened she really wasn't going to enjoy this. "I think you may want to sit down this is likely to take awhile to explain."

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly, while his muscles tensed, he did not like the tone in her voice; it made her sound as if she already knew how he was going to react and he wasn't going to like it. "I think I'll stand for now thank you."

Akeno could see how on edge he was and couldn't help but worry how Rias was going to handle this; both knew how things happened they had done had put them in an awkward position. Laying a comforting hand on her Kings shoulder, she could only offer a reassuring smile as they were about to lay everything on the line.

Closing her eyes Rias took a deep breath, once she calmed herself down enough to not rush she opened her eyes and stared straight into Naruto's, something that nothing to help her nerves, and pushed forward with her explanation. "To explain to you what happened to you I'm going have to give you a little bit of history behind it. What do you know about the bible?"

"Big leather bound book with a bunch of stories about some god, seems to be messed with so much over the years that most of the stories in it contradict each other." Naruto replied without thought, his face showing slight confusion about her question as well as her and Akeno's wince.

"Well I do believe that some of the modern ones have been 'messed with' as you said, the Biblical God does really exist. Now I know you're going to question me on this but hear me out until the end then I'll answer any questions you have, okay?" Rias hurray asked to make sure the blonde didn't leave before she got everything explained. Naruto gave her a scrutinizing look but nodded once. "Thank you." Rias said with a slight bow of her head.

"As I was saying, he does exist and so do the Devils and Angels, along with many other supernatural being, much like the ones you saw that night of the battle. However there is another faction between the Angels and the Devils, they are the Fallen Angels. Fallen Angels are Angels that have been case out of heaven for falling into Sin and sent to hell because of this; however the Devils wish to retain control of hell so fighting was inevitable. Devils make pats with humans in exchange for a price, while Fallen Angels take control of humans and use them to destroy us devil. Angel have been assigned by the gods to eliminate both the Fallen Angels and Devils, leading to a three was standoff. Are you following so far?" Rias asked having moved around from behind the desk to lean against the front of it, allowing her to see more eye to eye with Naruto.

"Following yes, understand what you're getting at not so much." Naruto said, nodding to the just waking up Koneko before crossing his arms across his chest and focusing on Rias again.

"The Three Factions at in a standoff now, but it hasn't always been that way. Until 300 years ago the Factions were at open war with each other, by the end all three sides had lost so many of their numbers we were all looking at annihilation. Thus the ceasefire was called however many on all sides didn't want to stop fight; for us devils it broke into a civil war. In the end our numbers were so low that unless we started mass breeding we were unlikely to ever fully recover; luckily an alternative was found. Based around the human game of chess high-class devils are given the means to reincarnate other being into a servant devil, these reincarnated devils are called a Peerage setting the high-class devil as the King. This is what I did to you; after you died I resurrected you as a member of my Peerage." Rias finished with a smile.

Naruto however was not smiling, his knuckles had become white from clencking his fists. "So let me see if I understand this right. I died three nights ago protecting you two." Naruto motioned his head in a nod towards where Rias and Akeno were, getting nods in return. "And in return you tried to turn me into a devil and your slave?" His voice dropped to a growl as he finished his question.

Rias' eyes shot wide open at the way he said that. "NO! Well some devils see their Peerage as slaves; the Gremory Clan sees them as friends and family. Not slaves." She said quickly while waving her hands in front of her, as if attempted to wave away his accusation.

Naruto grunted, but lost some of the growl in his voice. "Can you take it back?"

"Umm no, if I did you'd die." Rias said almost pleadingly, she had honestly wanted him in her Peerage but she didn't want him to hate her because she didn't give him a choice.

"Serve or Die huh?" Naruto said, his tone becoming cold as his aura started to seep out into the room. "I do not serve. I'm not a pokemon you catch and will suddenly listen to you commends Red."

Koneko's eyes shot wide open, as this was the first time she'd truly felt Naruto's aura, the emptiness that Akeno had described was nothing like feeling it first hand, it was like falling into an endless pit of despair, as if everything that made you a person was ripped away but you were forced to live with nothing left to live for. Within moments of the power escaping Naruto Koneko was overwhelmed by the feeling, tears leaked from her eyes memories of when she felt like this before rushing back to her; only made worst as she knew that Naruto himself felt this exact same way.

"Naruto please lis…"

"Koneko!" Akeno exclaimed cutting Rias off as the black haired teen rushed from beside the red head to the young white haired girl. The shock of her sudden yell knocked the two out of the argument to look at the weeping youth, who couldn't take her tear filled eyes off the elder blonde; even as Rias rushed over to help comfort her.

"Not alone." The young girl whispered, golden soulful eyes locking with hollow blue.

"Yes I am."

"Don't have to be."

"Do not bow."

"You won't."

"We shall see." Akeno and Rais could only watch the back and forth between the two. While Akeno and Yuto could understand Naruto hurtful past, Koneko could honestly say that she had felt as he does. Akeno and Yuto had both fought to live before Rias appeared and help them; Koneko had been to at the point of not even caring if she lived anymore as she had felt that she had nothing left to live for. Rias had come to her and offered her that, a new family, a new name and a new life.

Naruto didn't have someone to give him that; Yes Azazel had given him a chance to make a life for himself, but he wasn't there with him as he grew up only visiting the boy every so often and calling to check up on him. He was grateful to the duel hair colored man for all he'd done but it never filled the hollow feeling, something that Naruto grew to just except as a part of life for him.

Before anyone could say anything else everyone was forced to looked towards the couched across from the girls as the yet to awaken Yuto snorted again loudly and tossed in his sleep open more, ending with him falling to the floor. All watched a few seconds, expecting a moan for pain or a startled shout; however all they received was another loud snore as the comatose boy refused to return from his slumber.

That event relaxed everyone from the tense air that had formed as the girls giggled at the normally composed boy was now displaying his sloth like side. Naruto could only shake his head at his fellow blonde "I'm glad he never got this bad in class or I'd never be able to wake him up."

After Rias managed to compose herself she looked to Naruto with a small smile. "I thank you for taking care of my servant while he is in class Naruto."

"Didn't do it if you Red, Prince here just gets' enough flack from everyone in school he doesn't need the teachers after him too." Naruto said waving off her thanks.

Rias' smile grew a bit as she saw more of the good person Naruto hide. "All the same I thank you. He is very dear to me, as are all of my friends."

Naruto shrugged; to him he wasn't really doing much for the other guy so he didn't think he needed any thanks for it. "Meh, it's not like I do much." Naruto then pushed himself off the wall to look back at the girls, however before he could say anything else he felt one of his hands being gripped tightly in a hug. Looking down slightly Naruto blinked at the white haired girl he hadn't seen move. "What are you doing Kitten?"

Koneko blinked up at him while tilting her head to the side a bit, confusing clear in her eyes; using his other hand the tall blonde lightly tapped her cat faced hair clip letting her know why he called her that. "Don't go."

"Why not?"

"You belong here."

"How?"

"I have been there."

"How?" This time there was an edge to Naruto's voice, one that made Akeno and Rias jump a bit in shock; as up till now they were mystified at how the two were able to talk so much with so few words. Koneko however didn't recoil at all from the edge, she seemed to hold him tighter instead, something that left the other two even more surprised.

"My sister killed her king and ran away; left me behind. Was to be killed but Rias saved me; filled my hollow. Stay." Naruto narrowed his eyes, he knew she left A LOT out, but also wasn't lying to him; one look in her eyes showed him she really did know how hollow a person can really get.

The two stayed like that for a few minutes measuring the worth of one another's soul, before Naruto finally looked at Rias. "I do not serve." Rais and Akeno started to wilt as he spoke; they didn't notice Koneko's lip twitching up. "Ask me, never order or I'm gone." He finished causing the two girls heads to shoot up in shock.

"O-okay" Rias stuttered at the sudden turn around before she looked at the two, Koneko having yet to release his hand. "How?"

"She has stared into the Abyss too, it's in her eyes." Naruto said while nodding towards the white haired girl. "If she trusts you enough to allow herself near it again for me, I'll give you a chance."

Rias's smile came back full force "Now I do have to answer to other devils so from on you're going to have to call me Buchou while others are around."

Naruto snorted at that. "Not happening Red." he said causing everyone to blink before he explained. "I told you I don't serve, you are not above me, nor are you below me. I throw myself in front of that worm to save Germory Rias and Himejima Akeno my school mates; you healed me making us even, equal."

Rias got a blush as she realized just how he saw her and how far he would go for her, his equal, someone that didn't care about class or standing, just her. Looking over she saw Akeno with a matching blush and hers started to fade as did her smile a bit. "Are you going to let go of my hand any time soon Kitten?" Naruto's voice cut off her musings for going farther.

"Sit."

"Where?"

"Couch."

' _That is going to take some getting used to._ ' Rias thought as she watched Koneko manage to make Naruto sit only for the white haired girl to sit on him. Rias wanted to be angry about her seating but the look of udder confusion on Naruto's face when the girl jumped onto his lap made it hard to do anything but laugh at the boys lost look.

' _Give me monsters to fight and Perverts to deal with any day, women are just too damned confusing_ ' Naruto thought as he watched Rias and Akeno fall back into the couch across from him laughed, while Koneko sat in his lap.

* * *

It had taken Yuto another three hours to wake for his nap, finding himself face to foot with Naruto, the snickering jokes made at his expense made the boy blush almost to match his kings hair colour. As it was Naruto had passed almost his whole day with the group, they had left the old school building for dinner and for Naruto to replace his cell phone; which Rias promptly added her number to as well as everyone else's from the ORC.

Koneko hadn't let go of him during the entire time, which made dinner at the restaurant Rias had chosen interesting for the boy to say the least; and given Yuto enough material to fight back against Naruto's jokes. They hadn't spoken about any more devil information, other than informing Naruto he could learn magic, which he instantly ask for books on as well as books on real alchemy.

The talking was mostly daily things hoping to better understand each other, though Rias had the most trouble trying to really understanding her new Peerage member they all to realized that most of his known personality; the one shown in public and at school, was a well worn mask. The mask was so well worn though even Naruto himself forgot when he was slipping into it.

Koneko had been the person that had showed this to him and everyone, as while she was sitting on his lap or in contact with him she could feel his emotions; or lack thereof. Every time he was start falling into his mask reactions she would start poking him in the ribs and tell him to stop; by the time he was leaving his ribs were starting to get very sore.

While he was okay with them, having already gotten use to Yuto already, he was still leery of opening up to them yet; his mind however was on another topic most of the night. He had quickly come to realize that his conversation with the giant fox demon could have easily been a hallucination due to his near death experience; as such he hadn't spoken about it. So after finally getting Koneko to release him so that he could leave; and finding an amusing spot just behind her ear that could lull her to sleep if pet long enough, he had said his good nights and left for his apartment.

Once he was there he pulled his laptop computer from his room and set it up on his coffee table; after his promised email to his guardian with his new number, Naruto wrote out his entire experience along with a list of questions he had wished he had asked the great beast as well as his own reactions. Many of which seemed natural at the time now seem totally foreran to him, he disliked being touched; having only allowed Koneko as she seemed unused to it as well, he could feel that she was doing so for more than just keeping him there or wanting him to be uncomfortable, yet with the fox he openly hugged it. He hadn't been able to cry since he was 10, yet done so while there; the only thing that he could really do to prove or disprove it was find this 'Chakra' the beast had spoken of. If he could find this new energy then he would trust what was spoken of, if not then he could start focusing on the magic Rias spoke of.

Seating himself comfortably on the floor, legs crossed and feet bare, Naruto slowly closed his eyes and began the meditation exercises he learned from the many martial arts classes he had taken over the years, slowly sinking deeper into his own mind.

While meditation was not new to him, as it was one of the ways he learned to cope with being alone most of the time, trying to find something inside himself when he didn't know what he was really looking for was a difficult process. Two hours of searching himself something truly surprising happened, he found himself back in the massive cave system.

Standing from his seated position Naruto slowly looked around, everything was the same he remembered but this time he could see the exit of the tunnel that lead into where he'd met Kurama. Swiftly walking towards the chamber hoping to get some more answers he came to an abrupt stop when the chamber was no longer an endless black space that had held the fox; large pits of ebony fire littered the cavern floor giving off enough light for pathways to be made out. The part the stood out was an absolutely massive crimson waterfall that took up much of the back of the room from what the boy could see, the flow seemed to pool before little amounts of the water leaked out into crevasses along the chamber floor beside the paths.

Slowly approaching the waterfall while staying on the path Naruto couldn't help but feel amazed by the incredible feeling of power that emanating off the red liquid; entranced by the feeling the blonde boy began to kneel and reach his hand to the pool.

"Oi, I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice called out from behind him breaking him from the feeling. Whipping himself back to the source of the voice Naruto felt his own voice fail him as he could only stare at the other occupant of the room.

* * *

Rias stared at her depleted chess set with a sigh, only her and Akeno reminded in the clubroom. The red haired devil couldn't decide if what had happened with Naruto's revival was a good thing or not; it had showed her that he was a very strong individual and had been worth the time spent trying to get him to join her, however she hadn't had a chance to ask him nor did he give off any desire to live when she had revived him.

She felt his aggravation while she explained how he was still alive, he was more than ready to fight them for his freedom or if needed go right back to being dead. Had Koneko not been there she would have had to try to re-kill her savior, something she was not sure she could do even if she could get passed the emotional turmoil of the act. Rias gave an involuntary shiver as she remembered how close both she and Akeno had come to dying.

Flashback

As soon as the black flames had dissipated Rias and Akeno rushed back to where the boy had fallen; being chased by Sona and Tsubaki who were trying to check on their friends. "Rias?! Akeno-san?! Are you two okay?" Sona asked quickly as she finally caught up with the red head.

She was however ignored she saw Akeno using her magic to try to purify and close the wounds caused by the death worm; Rias herself was summoning her Evil pieces and laying them on the boy chest worry clear on her face as she wasn't getting any strong reaction from them. As the student council president started stepping closer to try to calm her friend she finally realized why the two reacted the way they did; the boy laying dead at their feet was Uzumaki Naruto. The same boy they had been chasing to try and catch for the better part of a year now, was now dead because he sacrificed himself to save the two that wanted to recruit him.

Rias was losing hope by the second none of her pieces were reacting strong enough to allow her to reincarnate the boy, dropping her last pawn on his chest the pieces only gave a slight glow meaning while it was possible for him to reincarnate she wasn't strong enough to do it. Tears started stinging her eyes, he was her hope, her savior, despite how annoying it could get when he was leading her around she had honestly had fun chasing him through the summer, she hadn't even thought about _HIM_ in months; now here everything was coming to an end as the blonde boy had died protecting her and her friend because she let herself become distracted during battle.

"Die!" The scream of the forgotten Cerastes caused everyone too quickly shift their views to the incoming beast that was aiming for tearful red haired girl. Only said girl's eyes weren't that of surprise like the others, nor were they fearful; her tear stained eyes showed nothing but rage as she dropped the rook piece that had been in her hand and lifted her hand towards the incoming monster. Red and black waves of power bloomed from her kneeling form in an instant, before she released a solid beam of destruction; the blast was easily twice the size of the girl it came from and went straight from her into the sky. Rias held the beam going for a full minute venting all her frustration and anger at the unlucky creature.

The other girls stared in awe at the power the Gremory girl displayed, until the saw her wilt as her anger left her and she returned to sadness. Sona stepped forwards to support her friend until Akeno cried out for the girl in surprised. Looking towards where she was pointing Rias' eye widened as the pawn pieces set upon Naruto's chest glowed a bright vibrant red.

Jumping to her feet in excitement not knowing or caring how it was suddenly working Rias wasn't about to let this second chance escape her. Summoning a magic circle around her and Naruto she started her chant to bring her savior back to her while the other girls moved back. Akeno stopping to grab the extra Evil Pieces that were set down beside her King before she too stepping outside the circle to watch; never noticing the Rook piece that had rolled under the dead boy's hand.

Rias closed her eyes channeling as much magic as she could muster into her spell, her mind over flowing with hope once more. "In my name, Rias Gremory, I command you Naruto Uzumaki, to walk the earth once more, return to the world as my savior and a Devil, be reborn." As she said the last of the spell she never noticed her slip in the incantation; as she started as sparks of energy started shooting between six of the pawns and the rook that floated up from under the boys hand and took a spot in the middle of the hexagon shape that glowing pawns took. Black bolts of electricity chained the seven pieces together as the slowly lowered into the whiskered blonde's chest, while small bursts of black fire sprouted from where the pieces entered his body. One larger pulse the flames throwing the two unused pawns off the glowing boys body.

Flashback end

She could only stare at her last two, now mutated pawns, something that should be impossible; much like everything else that happened around the boy. She'd never heard of pieces mixing as they had with Naruto, he was worth more than if she had both her Rook's and tried to change him. That was the reason she had called her brother, she was unsure what could happen with the different pieces, could he promote like normal pawns, was his rook abilities enhanced to a greater degree or was nothing different and the pawns simply to contain his own powers.

"There's nothing we can do for now other then wait Buchou." Rias was shaken back from her thoughts by Akeno's voice and the soft hand placed on her shoulder.

Looking up at her Queen Rias could only smile softly at the comfort the black haired girl offered. "I know Akeno, it's just the impossibility of everything that happened."

"Ufufufu, do you mean before or after we brought him back?" Akeno asked holding a hand in front of her mouth while she giggled, which got worse when she heard Rias groan louder and drop her face into her palm.

"All of it, every time I think I can't be more surprised by him he seems to do another impossible thing just to spite me."

"Ara ara, at least we know we won't be bored with him around right?" Akeno said with an impish grin.

"Somehow I think boredom will be the least of our worries with him around." Rias said with a bland tone; however the small grin on her face showed that she wasn't as upset by this as she tried to make herself out to be. "Come on lets go get some sleep."

"Oh Rias?" Akeno spoke up as they started towards the door of the club. Seeing the other look back to her Akeno continued "Did you ever figure out what your slip up in the spell did?" her only answer was another groan causing the pony-tailed girl to laugh again.

* * *

In an endless expanse of swirling colours chaotically mixing and flowing around each other; drifting rocks, parts of ruins from castles forgotten in time or others so advanced they beyond recognition; yet floating calmly in the middle of all this was a white marble platform holding a throne of midnight black. Sitting on this throne was a young girl dressed in a dark purple dress with white frills around the ends and tied at the waist with a light purple bow; her knee length black hair being held away from her silvery gray eyes by a purple bonnet, the girl was almost the definition of a Gothic Lolita.

Her normally apathetic dull eyes looked off in a seemingly random direction with a frightful intensity. "He is awakening?" she said with but a small whisper.


	4. Moving Revelations

33

Trying Again 4

Moving Revelations

Naruto grunted in annoyance once more as he glared at the cliff face in front of him. It had been about a week since he had woken up from his death and rebirth, meaning he had only 4 more days before school started once more. He was determined to get back the three skills he had remembered. However, to do that he had to relearn to control his Chakra. Something made that much harder as the demonic version of the energy was much more potent then what he 'remembered' it felt like.

An ironic blessing that he learned about in his meditation was that because his Chakra coils and Tenketsu were being rebuilt, he didn't have to deal with his massive reserves, overloading his techniques as badly. As long as he focused on control while they continued to rebuild to their original size, when they finished in a couple of months he'd be able to learn most of the skills from his past.

A halfhearted grin came to his face as he thought of that; he had a past. Everything he saw was real, the biggest clincher for that was after a rather interesting meeting inside himself. He looked in the mirror and finally realized his pupils were slitted like Kurama's had been. Closing his eyes, Naruto thought about his 'meeting' with a rueful smile.

-Flashback-

"Oi, I wouldn't do that if I were you." A voice called out from behind him, breaking him from the feeling. Whipping himself back to the source of the voice, Naruto felt his own voice fail him as he could only stare at the other occupant of the room. Before him stood an image he saw in the mirror every morning, minus the awful orange outfit and head band the other him wore. "Oi, Don't diss the Orange -ttebayo!"

" Ttebayo?" Naruto asked his other

His headband-wearing clone chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head. "It's a verbal tic we got from our mom."

"Correction; one you got." The slitted eyed blonde pointed out, as he had never remembered having any verbal tics.

The mental image deadpanned the cold version of himself. "We're the same person, Baka."

Naruto snorted while crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I beg to differ, I have far better taste in clothes then you do." The Blue shirted boy smirk as his clone clenched his fist and started glaring at him while muttering 'teme' under his breath. "That aside, what do I call you? If we're both Naruto it's going to get annoying to think about."

The shinobi version of the blonde had to take a moment to calm himself down from the taunts at his favorite colour before he spoke. "Well I always dreamed of being Hokage so just call me that." the Ninja Naruto said, puffing his chest out with pride and a smile so large it forced his eyes closed.

"Sure, Ninja-gaki." Naruto said ignoring the 'Oi' his from his doppelganger. "So what are you? Besides the obvious."

"Grrr, I can't believe I could turn out so much like the Teme." Ninja growled at the other him. "I'm you, well, more like who you were before Kaguya's attack."

"I asked for besides the obvious kage-chan"

"Oi, I'm so going to kick your ass." Ninja yelled while shaking his fist at his calmly glaring other.

"Just answer the damned question Naruto!" The reincarnated blonde said forcefully, the black flames from the pits around him jumping out to form his aura, only to watch as the original blonde was covered in a cloak of red energy that reminded him of Kurama's shape but ended with three tails waving behind.

"Stop being such an asshole and I will, Teme!" the guttural sound of his voice being distorted through the energy made the ninja version of him come off as almost demonic and would have be intimidating had he not already heard Kurama speak before.

Black Void Fire and red demon chakra clashed as they stared each other down, before Naruto sighed and turned away from his ninja counterpart, allowing his aura to dissipate. "Look; I've had a long and stressful day, so if you're not going to get to the point of why you're here just leave me be. I have enough on my plate without playing games with a mental Doppelganger who thinks it is fun to taunt me with who I was."

Ninja withdrew his demonic chakra while looking at his void self, before groaning and rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands. "I'm not trying ta taunt ya. I'm here to give ya our memories; I'm just sorta stopping them from all flooding ya at once."

"You're a conscience stop-gap on my memories?" Naruto asked

"Err I guess." Ninja said, not really getting what Naruto was asking him. "I am sort of like a slow release Kage Bunshin. I release some memories every night, or I can release select memories in here for you. I can tell you some things as well but I'm not really good at explaining stuff."

"The last part I gathered from what little memory slipped through, and Kurama." Naruto said causing Ninja to start muttering about 'teme's and damned fluffies.' which the quieter of the two decided he was better off not knowing.

"So you came here looking for something, what is it?" Ninja said annoyed with his newer self.

"The Fox said it left me a bunch of gifts tied to its Chakra; however I have no idea what Chakra is or where to find it." Naruto said looking at the Ninja.

Ninja pointed to the rushing red waterfall. "That's your demonic chakra pool. The bit that's leaking out of currently re-making our chakra system that got destroyed." The orange wearing blonde causally started walking towards his newer half. "I'll give you the memories we have of the academy over the next week, as well as tell ya the basics of Tree walking and water walking exercises." Finally in reach of the void Naruto, he looked him in the eye while laying a hand on his shoulder. "Heads up, this is gonna hurt."

Naruto woke up sprawled out on his living room floor the next evening, having slept for a full 16 hours.

-Flashback end-

' _Gods he was not kidding._ ' Naruto thought to himself before reopening his eyes to look back at the cliff again. ' _Feel the energy, watch how it forms, feel how it flows through the body. Direct it to your feet, spreading it evenly and GO!_ ' Naruto rushed to the natural wall once again, planting his feet as he started up it. He ran right up, stopping at the top while staying horizontal. His first real smile in a long time spread across his face while he looked out across the forested area around him. "Look out world, Uzumaki Naruto is making his comeback."

Several hours later found Naruto standing outside a sweets shop, staring at the window display while being stared at by the passing populous. The reason for their stares was because while on his way back into town after his training, he had bumped into Koneko, who had yet to stop trying to find out where he lived. If on Rias's orders or not he didn't know, so she decided to follow him. Knowing that he wasn't likely to get away from the persistent girl, Naruto chose to go to the market area of town to get something to eat. When he offered to buy her lunch as well she grabbed his hand and started dragging him to her favorite shop. This in of itself wouldn't be so odd if he hadn't keep his feet solidly on the ground while being dragged. As such everyone was being treated to the sight of a tall blonde being dragged by a short white haired girl, while leaving solid lines of rubber from his deteriorating shoes as they made their way to the shop.

Once they arrived, Koneko finally let go of his hand and walked inside to pick out her snack while Naruto let his feet cool down as to stop leaving marks as he walked. "Next stop is new shoes, I guess." The blonde muttered with a blank look that almost matched the loli that had beat him into the shop. People would have thought them a cute couple if not for their matching, disturbingly emotionless looks as they decided what to eat; Koneko getting cake while Naruto stuck to some light pastries.

Seeing how little he had gotten; Koneko stared at him, silently asking about it. "It would cost too much to fill me up here, kitten."

"Where next Senpai?"

"New shoes."

"Just shoes?" The girl asked after swallowing a bite of cake.

Naruto pointed out the window of the shop to where the trails from his feet were left. "Just shoes."

Koneko looked where he was pointing before glancing down at his feet. Looking back at him she kept her stoic gaze even as a sweat drop rolled down the back of her head. "Too slow."

"No warning." Naruto countered, keeping to their ongoing short answer conversation.

"Offered sweets."

"Could've said." By now everyone around them was starting to get really amused by their talk, most assuming they'd known each other for years to be able to understand each other with so little words. Seeing the girl start to look down with a slightly ashamed look, Naruto stared out the window towards where the clothing stores were. "Wouldn't take it back; next time say, we'll come together."

Koneko looked up sharply towards the blonde young man while he just continued to stare out the window, a look of surprise in her eyes; if not on her face. Catching Naruto's eye as it turned to her, and his almost unseen nod happiness spread through her again. "Hai." The start of a blush on the young women's face going unnoticed by almost all.

Of everyone in the club, Koneko was the biggest contradiction to interact with for him. She had felt what it's like to be empty so she understood him, and wasn't demanding for social interaction which was something Naruto liked about her. Their short answer conversations where a norm for them, never needing more explanation and gaining more understanding from simply looking in each other's eyes than most ever could from words.

However she had made it a point that when they were together, they almost always remained in contact. Though she didn't sit on his lap in public since the first day, unless both hands were busy with something she normally held his hand, something that while not terrible did make him uncomfortable by how foreign and unnatural it felt. She was at least easier to deal with then Akeno, though he was building a tolerance to her as well.

Rias had made it a point to call him in to be with her peerage at least every couple of days, though Naruto was sure that if she had her way it would be every day. She was insistent they be together, and used the excuse of needing to explain more about devil life to him to get him there and stay for as long as she could hold him. When asked why he was always reluctant to come and hang around them, he could only offer that he was not a social person and being around other felt uncomfortable for him.

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because now if any of the group came across him at any point during the day or night they would follow him around for hours on end. Since he didn't exactly dislike them, he couldn't just tell them to leave him alone. Kiba was by far the easiest to get along with, as once the knight knew he was versed in the art of the sword, the boy was always up for a spar. Something Naruto was happy to provide as they didn't need to talk. Once worn out from the fight Yuto was happy to leave to rest; though he was sure that as Yuto got stronger, the fights would take longer to wear the Prince down.

Rias was difficult to get a full read on. She seem to want him there and was always happy to see him, however whenever they talked she seemed far too chatty for his tastes most of the time; always asking how he felt, if he was having any problems or if he needed anything. Apparently it was the 'king's' duty to provide for his or her Peerage but as Naruto wasn't in need, she felt a slight bit put out. She still couldn't even figure out where he lived, nor could she sense him beyond his current health, and that was only at a basic level. She had restricted his learning about devil abilities or using magic until after she gave some specialist, who was coming, a chance to look over his 'pieces' to make sure it was safe due to some compilations in his resurrection; whom was expected within the next day or two.

While he didn't mind much, as it gave him time to relearn his past self's abilities, he did feel that she was hiding something from him. Then again, he still hadn't told her about his memories so he couldn't pry.

The one that put Naruto out the most was Akeno. She was so touchy that it he often couldn't help but start hiding under his mask around her. She liked to tease him and often was trying to touch him, which left him off balance so he would fall into his mask and try to joke around, slip past her when she tried to touch him, or tease her back verbally. Some of the jokes got pretty perverted according to Koneko; who really didn't like perverts, but the white hair girl let most of it slide saying she knew he didn't mean them.

"Senpai?"

Naruto was shaken from his thoughts by the call. "Hmm, oh sorry Kitten. Just thinking, Sparky is supposed to let me know if the Doc is coming today or tomorrow." Koneko nodded, long use to Naruto's habit of nicknaming everyone he talked to for longer than hour. "Ready?"

"Hai."

Tossing the last of his snack into his mouth, Naruto stood and held the door for his companion for the day, knowing that unless he really tried to run he wasn't likely to lose her. The thought of being able to run jumped out of his head as the white haired girl took hold of his hand again. "I won't run." he said as she walked out with him.

"Not alone."

"So you keep saying."

"Until you believe." The golden eyes remained firm on reminding him.

"Then let's go." The slitted-eyed boy said as he led her towards the store, truthfully he was thankful to all of them for all they were trying to do for him. Even if it was irritating at times with the constant calls; random meetings that, he didn't for second believe to be random; and incessant talking from some, he was starting to look forward to seeing them at times. "Do you know how to play consol fighting video games?" Naruto asked, deciding she earn knowing where he lived.

Koneko nodded a bit before tilting her head questioningly. "Hai."

"My guardian likes to send random gifts; last one was a gaming console and lots of games. All of which are two player." Naruto explained.

"You never play."

"Never had someone to play with." Naruto said shrugging helplessly.

"I'll come."

"Thanks Kitten." Naruto gave a small smile.

* * *

After replacing his shoes and buying groceries, including a large amount of snacks for his company, Naruto lead Koneko to a small apartment complex near the edge of town. The complex wasn't anything top of the line but it was both in good condition and less expensive then something closer to the main district. Koneko realized it had fit perfectly with Naruto's hiding pattern as well, so average in appearance that it blended in with the background rather than trying to be hidden.

His apartment itself was both nice and very basic. The door opened to the area between the kitchenette on the right and the dining table on the left. Beyond the table lead into the living area, which was separated from the kitchen by the counter. The living room was a simple three seated couch set against one wall across from a 34" television on the other wall. On the stand the TV stood on was the a modem for the internet, a DVD player and the gaming console Naruto had spoken about, as well as the large stack of still-sealed games. Between the couch and TV sat the coffee table, on which was two of the books she'd seen Naruto borrow from Rias. The only object that wasn't perfectly clean and organized was the over flowing bookshelf on the far wall next to the patio door leading to the balcony.

Just before the couch started and on the other side of the kitchen counter was a hallway leading into the deeper part of the apartment. "Bathroom's the door at the end of the hall; door to the left is my room, door to the right is linen closet." Naruto explained as they entered.

That had been close to four hours ago. "You suck."

Naruto snorted at Koneko's blunt assessment of his gaming abilities. "As expected, you've seen how often I use this." Koneko nodded as she had to wipe the dust off before even opening the console to use it. "Tea?"

"Please, and cookies." Koneko said as she stood up to change games again, as they still had a large stack of untouched games to work their way through.

They both stopped however when Naruto's phone started to play 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC. Picking up the device off the table, Naruto started for the kitchen again while answering it. "Hello Sparky." He completely ignored Koneko's deadpanned stare at his ringtone for Akeno. "Right, when?" Naruto nodded along while his white-haired company watched him, starting to make her tea only to stop. "Okay I'll be there shortly… No I can walk, you said I still have half an hour. You're likely to do that when I get there anyways Sparky… see you soon."

Naruto hung up as he started to put the cups in the sink and put away the Tea kettle. "Sorry Kitten, looks like Doc's coming soon so we have to head over to the clubroom."

Koneko nodded while turning off the gaming console and TV before heading to the door to get her shoes on, her blonde host following her moments after he finished his quick clean up. The second Naruto finished locking his door his hand was quickly captured by the loli white haired girl. Naruto gave her a quick look before shrugging the girl's habit off and began walking away.

* * *

"He pulls that shit at school, I'm hanging him from a flagpole Prep, I'm just letting you know." Naruto's voice was heard from outside the door causing Rias to look up from some of the paperwork she was doing while waiting for everyone to arrive.

"I understand you're upset with him Naruto, but Hyodo-san and his friends are harmless." Yuto said, trying to calm his fellow blonde down as he opened the door, letting the two blondes and a disgruntled white haired girl in.

"The three were almost drooling on Kitten here, and crowding me WAY to close." Naruto said back with a flat look.

"Feel dirty." The girl muttered standing a step closer to the larger blonde than normal.

"Ara ara, did you have an encounter with our cute little Kohai on your way over?" Akeno asked from her normal position behind Rias.

Koneko gave the pony-tailed girl a flat look before moving to a couch, dragging Naruto with her as she walked. Akeno gave a giggle at the look she received while Rias could only just hold back the tick in her eyebrow at how close the two seemed, while she couldn't seem to make any headway learning about her newest club member.

"If you find those three cute, please never call me that, Sparky." Naruto said while he sat down and Koneko sat on his lap.

Akeno moved towards him, swaying her hips while licking her lips. "Of course my sexy little Ghosty-kun, you are far too delicious looking to be called 'cute'."

"Akeno." Rias said stopping the girl before her and Naruto could start another one of their little games.

"Ufufuf, sorry Buchou; didn't mean to make you jealous." Akeno said while moving back to behind the redhead.

"I'm sure Red's got better tastes than that Sparky." Naruto said while trying to reach around Koneko to get some of the tea that had been set out; thereby completely missing all four of them giving the boy deadpanned looks. "Kitten, can you move a bit so I can get the tea please?"

Instead of getting up, Koneko simply reached out and handed him the cup. "Stay."

Naruto sighed but accepted the cup. "Thank you." Koneko nodded while beginning to munch on a cookie. "So Red, when's the Doc supposed to show up?" Suddenly, a bright silver magical circle appeared on the floor instead of a verbal answer. "Oh, now."

Yuto and Akeno had to hold back a bit of a snicker at Naruto's, offbeat humor, while Rias just sighed realized who came with Ajuka and that she wasn't going to really like how Naruto behaved much. As the glow died down, two new people had appeared in the room. The first was a proud looking woman in a maid uniform; her long silver hair was tied into four braids, two in the front framing her face and two in the back. Her large chest made Naruto wonder if all Devils had large breasts after a certain age.

The second person was a rather laidback looking man with pulled back green hair, his body was covered in a darker green cloak with a yellow border on it, exposing his shirtless stomach and overly baggy pants of a matching green. "Welcome Beelzebub-sama, Grayfia-san." Rias said bowing to the man, something that everyone other then Naruto did; following her action. The man was the only to have seen Naruto didn't stand and bow; as Grayfia had closed her eyes to bow to Rias.

"You certainly have an interesting new member to you Peerage, Gremory-san." The green haired man said as he smirked lightly while looking over Naruto, stepping around the maid the man calmly approached Naruto, instantly noticing the tensing muscle and sharp eyes of the boy. "Greetings I'm Ajuka Beelzebub." the man said holding out his hand to the wary blonde.

With Koneko off his lap, Naruto stood and shook the man's hand; only having to look up a slight amount to look the man in the eye. "Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet ya. I take it you're the Doc Red asked to look me over?" Rias and Yuto both winced at Naruto's blunt reply. While Akeno covered her mouth to hold in her giggles, Koneko just bowed her head. Grayfia's eyes widened in shock at his crassness, before she quickly glared at the youth.

Ajuka however started to laugh aloud. "Not quite, I'm a Scientist not a Doctor. I was the person that created the Evil Piece system, however, so I am the most experienced Devil there is to assess any abnormalities with it." He explained with a friendly grin.

Naruto shrugged while taking back his hand. "Do what you got to do then, but mind if I ask ya a question while you fiddle?" Ajuka chuckled at the calm and outspoken youth but nodded his consent while starting a spell to scan Naruto's body. "Why did ya set it up to make people sla- servants?" Naruto corrected himself halfway through his question, missing Rias sigh of relief.

Ajuka hummed to himself while he thought of how to answer while taking in the results of the scans. "That is actually a twofold answer. The first reason to the change itself, due to the often sudden change the chosen individual goes through to become a devil, the king needs to limit and regulate the influx of energies. Otherwise, the chosen being goes through a radical, uncontrolled mutation; often leaving said being in constant pain and more often than not insane. This process is only needed until said individual has a strong enough grip on their demonic energies that they can control it completely on their own. Hence why any High-class devil, even reincarnated ones, can become kings and take on their own Peerage." Ajuka explained as he started another spell over Naruto's body.

Naruto nodded at the understandable and completely logical way Ajuka was explaining it. "I see."

Hearing Naruto reply, Ajuka nodded and continued his answer. "The second reason is for integration. As reincarnated devils haven't grown up in devil society, they don't understand the rules our world is governed by. As such, they need to learn the social relations of our way of life and shouldn't be held responsible for any errors that they make dealing with our people since they are new. Take yourself for example; do you know who I am in the underworld?"

"The laidback guy that made the funky chess set and is helping Red and I cuz' I can't do anything normal?" Naruto asked while watch the man's spell run over him again. "Though I freely admit she may have told me but I forgot, it's been a hectic week."

Ajuka chuckled lightly while grinning at the blonde; Grayfia's glare on said blonde only getting worse as time went on, as frost started to form at her feet. "Exactly my point, you've just been through a traumatic change and haven't had enough time to adjust yet. I hardly think it would be fair to you to suddenly have this happen then be forced to deal with it on your own. Now, I'll be the first to admit the system isn't perfect and many devils take advantage of it, or abuse it, but I made it to help save my people first and I'm trying to fix the problems with it still."

"Ah, I see. Thanks for explaining that, Doc." Naruto said while nodding his head. His eyes however were focused on the building frost coming from the silver-haired maid.

"You're quite welcome, Blondie." The green-haired man said as he stepped back from the now smirking boy. Hearing the Maou give the boy a nickname back caused various reactions throughout the others in the room. Akeno was no longer able to hold back her giggles. Rias fell down into her chair while covering her face with her hands, unable to decide if she should be relieved that Ajuka wasn't offended by Naruto's behavior or worried that another of the great Satans' acted like her brother. Yuto and Koneko just stopped worrying and sat down to wait for the results of the tests. Grayfia was the one that Naruto noticed the clearest while the frost left the floor her glare developed at clear twitch in her eyebrow.

"So what's the word, Doc."

"The only word I have for you is Odd." Ajuka's shot back, causing a resounding nod from everyone that knew the boy, including Naruto himself.

"Yes I am, but why this time?"

By this point, Grayfia had face palmed while muttering about never letting the blonde meet someone. "Well, all your pieces seem to be functioning, the Rook being at the forefront, while the Pawns are working to stabilize it. Whatever your power is, it's almost too strong for the evil pieces to contain, and while you're clearly linked with Gremory-san, you aren't a Devil."

This caused everyone else to stare at the two in shock. "How can he not be a devil if the evil pieces are inside of him?" Rias asked in shock. ' _Is this because I messed up the spell, or the mixed pieces?_ '

"Blondie, could you focus on your upper back just inside your shoulder blades and imagine a set of wings opening and spreading out." Ajuka said seemingly ignoring Rias. Naruto shrugged and did as asked. Closing his eyes he tried to picture a set of wings. Thinking devil, he was expecting bat like ones; the gasps of everyone in the room allowed him to realized they weren't bat like. Opening his eyes only confirmed this. "And that is why he isn't a devil, congratulations Rias Gremory."

Shooting out of Naruto's back were two large scaly reddish black wings that reached from six inches above his head to three inches off the floor They had thick running finger-like partitions and with dark membrane between them. At the top joint, a small silvery talon topped of the look. "You are the First devil to ever reincarnate someone into a Dragon." The Maou finished, grinning like a madman.

Testing his wings a few times to get a feeling for them, Naruto looked back at Rias with a questioning look. "Does that mean I don't have to hand out fliers anymore?" Everyone other then Rias, Grayfia and Naruto burst out laughing as they couldn't hold it back anymore; though Koneko's laugh was a quiet giggle. Grayfia groaned while muttering about a second coming; Naruto looked like he honestly wanting an answer while Rias just stared blankly at the boy.

* * *

That night after the meeting, Naruto had returned to the woods near where the abandoned mansion he'd been killed in was so he could train more in his ninja techniques. While his Chakra system was still re-growing in size, all of his Tenketsu had been fully recovered so he could practice his jutsu's at least. Right now he was trying to master Kawarimi no jutsu (substitution technique) to the point that he didn't need the hand seals to use. He had it down to 3 out of the 5 seals needed, but that would still be too slow to use in a fight for it to be of much use.

Just as he was about to start warming up, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye, a flash of purple in one of the mansion's windows. Moving as quickly as he could while still being as quiet as possible, the ninja in re-training rushed up to the door of the building to track down the source of the disturbance. What he found was unexpected and upsetting; in the room he had entered through the first time he came here, balled up in several moth-eaten worn out blankets was the same young half snake girl he'd noticed during that night. This time when he found her though she looked half starved with old spoiled and moldy food remains surrounding her. She was sweating even as she shivered from chills running through her body.

' _Ninja, do we know any medical Jutsu? She needs help._ ' Naruto yelled out in his mind, praying the normally silent clone would hear and answer, as he rushed to the ill Lamia's side. His answer wasn't in words but rather an impulse he couldn't explain. Having nothing better to go on, the blonde bit into his thumb, drawing blood, before wiping it across one of the tribal circle tattoos on his chest; smoke exploded out and with it came a scroll. Following with his impulses he unrolled the scroll until he saw another circle that had 'anti-poison' and 'food pills' written beside it. He wiped more blood on the seal causing it to spit out the needed medicines.

Quickly pulling the anti-poison vial out, he poured it down the girl's throat, then pulled the scroll and pills away from her. In minutes, she was throwing up the contents of her stomach, proving Naruto right in that she was ill as well as having gotten food poisoning for the large amounts of rotten food she had tried to eat. Once he was sure she had gotten everything out of her, the boy rolled up the scroll for later and packed up the medicine into his pocket. Once ready, he lifted the girl, blankets and all, into his arms wrapping the tail around himself a couple of times so as to not step on it, holding it in place with a modified version of the tree walking technique. Secured, and in a hurry to save the girl, Naruto took off into the night, bringing home his second guest, that wasn't his uncle, ever.

Once in his apartment, in which he came in through the balcony as to hide the fact that he was carrying a snake girl, Naruto had laid her out in his bed. He had to crush up the food pills and mix it into water to spoon feed it to her, but he was fairly sure with enough rest and some healthy food the girl would be able to recover in a few days. ' _Now, just need to keep her hidden if Koneko or Uncle Az come over before she's gone._ '

The blonde boy groaned. It would be just his luck that his perverted Uncle would show up the same time the ill snake girl would come out of the bedroom. Shaking off the thoughts, Naruto covered the girl in a couple of blankets, as well as laying out a small space heater for the likely cold-blooded, snake girl. Taking his laptop and a change of clothes, Naruto escaped the room while closing the door. If all went well, he could get her up and healthy enough that she'd be on her way home before school started.

As he laid out a blanket and spare pillow on the couch, his eyes landed out the scroll that had come from his tattoo. He hadn't even thought that they were anything more than decorative marks, though he dreamed when he was younger they were letters from parents he never had, but he never dreamed they held items from his past. Sinking down into the couch, he looked over the scroll that he had released. There were about five seals on it; that left four with things in it. ' _Sealing ink & brushes; Spare kunai; Spare shuriken; and Prank equipment? Why prank equipment, the rest sounds like emergency supplies, but pranks?_' Naruto thought to himself as he looked over everything in the scroll.

Shaking his head at the thought, Naruto unsealed all the equipment to look over the condition and quantity he had of each, setting them all out on the table along with the 4 pill boxes from the first seal. Everything unpacked, he started checking them. He had 50 Kunai set in leather carriers that held 5 each. Most of them were still in perfect condition, however 15 or so seemed to have been used from the nicks in the blades. The shuriken were the same, with 20 being slightly used out of the 100 in the seal; they were also in leather carriers but were in sets of 10. Out of the seal for ink, he had gotten one and a half full ink bottles and a dozen empty ones, three of the empty bottles were perfectly clean while the rest were emptied of ink while still having stains of old ink in them. The brushes looked like they needed to be cleaned but otherwise were ok. The thing that surprised him was that a book had also been in the seal, explaining the process to make sealing ink as well as the different type of inks there were.

The 'prank supplies' were a surprise as well; as they made a bit more sense now. They consisted of several spools of wire, smoke bombs, stink bombs, nets, spring traps and some hand-held tools. Everything someone would need to make many traps and secure an area. There were also pure prank items such as paint bombs, pepper smoke and other such things but it did make sense to have trap making supplies in the scroll if he was a ninja before. While he already had the main portion of his memories from his academy days returned to him, many things didn't make sense yet, like why he spent so much time thinking up pranks or his desire to become 'Hokage'. However his earlier memories started to fill in now that he'd remembered the needed parts to train with.

That was one thing about the returning memories that had given him a major headache: everything was choppy, making it like watching dozens of clips from movie trailers and trying to put together the movie itself; not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. He knew that his past self related with someone named Sasuke, almost as well as he did with Koneko now. However they did NOT show any form of connection to each other from what he could remember.

His returning memories for him youth were not pleasant what so ever. He'd remember being thrown out on the street at the age of 5 maybe 6 years old from the orphanage and having to eat from garbage cans; hiding from mobs of towns people that would chase him down and beat him up till white masked people would finally step in. The only good thing that came from those memories was Naruto finally understood what Kurama had meant by the advanced healing factor, as with the older he looked during the mob scenes the faster he would heal and more damage he could heal from. Sadly this also meant that the damage done to him was worse as well. One memory that stood out was being impaled through the chest with a pitchfork and stuck to a wall hanging three feet from the ground, he believed he was 8 at the time. ' _I am very glad I don't live there anymore._ '

While the returning memories did make it harder still to get to sleep, it also gave him a new perspective on how he reacted to things; not to say all the memories he gained were bad. He did remember the nice father and daughter pair that ran a Ramen stand. They use to feed him happily even when he didn't have any money to pay for his meals. There was also the old man who had got him an apartment to live in when he was 9, and used to buy him ramen ever once in awhile. He did still love ramen today, it was his comfort food of sorts when his nightmares got too bad, but now he knew what was always missing for it, he missed the family atmosphere from the stand.

Naruto shook his head to force the memories from his mind. It was good to have them but to dwell on them wouldn't help him. Focusing again, he released the seals on both of his arms; from his left arm came a set of clothes that were black and burnt orange in colour. Not as horrible as the ones he wore as a kid, the ones his doppelganger wore as if to mock him; but still an odd choice for a ninja to wear. The eye-catching piece of clothing however was the crimson long coat with black flames covering the bottom, the same type he was said to have been found in when he was a child. Looking it over, he found that his name was stitched into the collar of the along with similar circles around it, Seals he now realized; however they were different enough for the ones on his body that he was sure they weren't storage seals. Turning it over, the blonde could see the word 'Sage' written on the back in black surrounded by a swirl mark. Just having the coat in his hands gave him a sense of familiarity and surprisingly, pride, as if the coat proved that he had accomplished something great.

The other seal had released another scroll. It was larger than the first but only had the name Jiraiya on it. Opening it he saw several seals across it, the first of which released a stack of 12 books, the first was titled 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja', something he was likely to read tonight. The rest of the books were a series of books; all but one of which with brightly colored cover, each title started with Ichi Ichi. Naruto felt the need to sweat drop simply looking at the stack; opening the cover of one and skimming through he realized why, the books were all smut. The last of the stack was a manuscript, titled Ichi Ichi: Maelstrom, the part that caught his attention was under the title was an author's note. " _In dedication to my Godson, grow strong and live your life to the fullest._ " Just reading this made a tear form in Naruto's eye, he didn't know who Jiraiya was or why the man left the manuscript with him but he would at least read through it, smut or not this was a dead man's life work, he couldn't throw that away; not even he was that cold.

' _As I'm in a different dimension, maybe I should re-publish these in his name it would allow him to live on in name at least.'_ Naruto thought to himself, he could take the manuscript in first after proof reading it; if it sold, okay then he'd type out the others to be re-published. He didn't think they would sell well, as they were simply porn novels but a little extra money for making sure someone's legacy lived on couldn't hurt, and he could reduce the amount of money he got off his Uncle. ' _Uncle Az would likely love these books, maybe he knows where I could get them published without having to give my name._ '

Looking at the overfilled coffee table, Naruto decided to start organizing it before he opened up any more items. He stored all the kunai and shuriken the hallway closet until he could either store them back in the scroll or into his room, whichever came first. The brushes, he put into a glass filled with water to let the ink soak out of them, as were the empty ink vials filled with water to hopefully clean. The vials still holding ink were put near the brushes so they weren't lost. The trap-making equipment was stored in a cupboard under the sink, as it wouldn't standout, keeping all the bombs in separated Tupperware containers.

The clothing was folded up and kept just off from the couch, as it would be store in this room tomorrow; while the sage coat was spread across the back of the couch as it would mean little if people saw it. He had stacked the books between his over filled bookcase and the wall as he had nowhere to lay them on it; while carefully laying the manuscript on top so it wouldn't be ruined in any way. Once he was finished putting that stuff away, the events of the day started to catch up to him, causing him to finally give up on staying awake and let sleep take him before he was fully laying down on the couch.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes once more in the chamber in his mind, though he didn't need to walk through the tunnels this time as he was already standing before the glowing red waterfall of his chakra; across from his clone. "Thank you for your help, Ninja."

"Should you really be thanking yourself? Seems kind of conceited, don't you think?" The orange-wearing blonde asked, a joking grin on his face. Naruto then noticed that his clone had changed the clothing he was wearing, going from the bright orange and blue jumpsuit to a black jacket with dark orange sides, and burnt orange pants; an improvement from the start but still far too orange for the slitted eyed boy.

"Considering the differences in our knowledge, I think it can be allowed." Naruto said with a calm grin on his face.

"Great, you go from Teme to Gaara." Ninja muttered, rolling his eyes at the passive boy across from him. "Anyway what can I do for you today?"

"Other than thanking you for hearing me enough to help that girl, I was wondering about the seals on our body and what else they can do." Naruto said, completely ignoring the muttering of people he wasn't aware of.

Ninja got an amused grin on his face when he heard his newer self's request. This was an area that he really loved to play in, something that connected him to both his parents. "That's a loaded question, and something that I can't fully answer even with all the memories we have, we couldn't tell you everything they do. Take the seals on our chest for example, one held emergency supplies while the other is a gravity and resistance seal for exercise. Two of the visible seals on our sage coat are wear resistance and genjutsu breaker seals."

"I see." Naruto said, as he could see his other self getting more excited by the word. "How do you work them?"

"Just adding chakra for most. The blood for the storage seals on you was because of how often we needed to flood our body with chakra during fights. We needed to have a way to prevent them from randomly expelling the contents." Ninja explained happily. "I can start releasing some seal information if you're interested."

"Please do, I'm going to start needing to use the gravity seal to continue training while I'm in school." Naruto said, thinking over everything he learned while piecing together what he could in his thoughts.

Ninja groaned at hearing they were in school again. "I don't see how you stand that place."

Naruto shrugged, "I enjoy learning new things. People are still stupid but less hateful here." With that, he started to fade away from the mindscape, giving Ninja one last lazy wave as he did.

* * *

Naruto was woken the following morning by someone poking him lightly in the head; a new experience to be sure. Blinking his blurry eyes, he could at most make a low grunting noise at the offender.

"Ah no, umm who are you?" A soft quiet voice asked from the blob of pink and purple above him. Naruto grunted again while pulling himself wearily from his place of slumber, desiring nothing more than to simply roll over and go back to sleep.

Groaning with a headache from just waking, the blonde rubbed his eyes before looking back at the now clearing blur. First he saw the purple and pink parts slowly give way to show short messy hair and soft if slightly sunken skin, wide green eyes showing apprehension and innocence. The young snake girl had awoken and was now standing before him, wrapped up in one of the blankets he had used to cover her last night. "'Ruto" the blonde grumbled out while standing up to head to the kitchen. "Give me a minute."

The young girl seem to understand as he staggered his way from the couch and into the kitchen. She wasn't entirely certain how to act as the blonde teen barely seem to make it to the sink before splashing cold water on his face, attempting to kickstart his brain enough to talk to her. She was very nervous not knowing what was going to happen to her, but she was hopeful as she was taken from the abandoned house she remembered passing out from pain in, and was now in a clear and cared-for apartment and feeling better, if still starving.

Finally remembering what he was supposed to be doing, and why he had a snake girl in his apartment, Naruto set about making tea and cooking some food for himself and the girl. He didn't intend to talk to her much until both had something in their stomachs, and had run themselves through the shower. "Sorry, I'm not a morning person." The blonde muttered loud enough that he was sure she heard him.

"It's okay Ruto-sama." The girl said as politely as possible while trying not to let her stomach growl at the smell of the food being cooked. "I was just wondering why I was here."

"It's Naruto, no honorific." The boy said, still somewhat grouchy from being woken up. "We'll talk after breakfast; and shower." He grunted out while cooking a large skillet of scrambled eggs with toast, sliced tomatoes and cheese. Even as a brain dead zombie in the morning, Naruto still knew how to cook a good, filling meal.

After eating and both having cleaned themselves up enough, the boy sat on the couch looking at the young, nervously fettling girl who was now wearing one of his t-shirts that was big enough to seem like a dress on her small frame. "So, what's your name?" Naruto asked trying to get the girl to relax slightly.

"Um, Hikari, Naruto-sama." The girls said her head down and hands held in front of her, looking every part the shy innocent girl he thought her to be.

"Okay Hikari-chan, I'm sorry if I scared you earlier. As I said, I'm not a morning person, and I had a late night so it was rough getting up." Naruto explained, the calm, easy going smile of his mask firmly in place, trying to calm the girl down. "I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of helping you if I was just going to hurt you, so you don't have to be so nervous."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, why did you help me, Naruto-sama?" The girl asked shyly, while playing with the tip of her light purple scaled tail.

Naruto didn't even bat an eyelash while keeping the easy going grin on his face. "You looked sick, and the moldy food around you didn't look to healthy to eat, so I decided to help." The look of shock that crossed the girls face was enough for the blonde to let out a small laugh while nodding. "Yes, that's the only reason."

A small blush crossed the girls face as she averted her eyes. "So what do you want me to do now Naruto-sama?" She was honestly expecting him to demand her to obey him now that he had saved her, as that was how everyone treated her since she was taken from her family.

"For one I ask that you stop calling me sama, I'm just Naruto. Second, I want you to rest, you're likely still weak and need to recover." Naruto said while standing from the couch. "After that, we'll see what we can do to find where you belong. A cute little girl like you shouldn't be out on her own." Hikari puffed her cheeks out at being called 'little girl', but the blush on her face was only half from that and half from being called cute by the handsome whisker-marked blonde.

Grabbing the manuscript and placing it in his school bag to carry it in, Naruto pick up his phone and started for the door. "I have some errands to run today, so please make yourself at home; just be sure to get lots of rest." With that, Naruto was out the door, leaving that surprised and happy Lamia girl to her own devices.

Once he was out the door, Naruto quickly set the gravity seal on his chest to level two, doubling the gravity and resistance on his body, causing his normally fast walking speed to slow considerably; and a small grin to form on his face. ' _If I can make it through today without any trouble, I'll raise it to three tomorrow._ ' The ability to train even while just walking around town caused a grin to form on the blonde's face.

It took far longer than Naruto had thought to find the publishing company Azazel had directed him to, which was in Tokyo proper. With the many business people whom were going to and from work, or seemingly to just be milling in the streets, it caused the boy to get lost more than once before he finally found where he was looking for. They had worked out a royalty's deal, in which while not getting much money right off the bat for the book, the better it sold the more he would make in the long run; something that Naruto was perfectly fine with, as he wasn't expecting much.

He had just left the building when his had gotten a call from Rias. "Where are you?" her voice holding both worry and annoyance.

"Tokyo, why?"

"Why are you in Tokyo?" Rias asked, completely taken off guard by his answer.

"Business meeting; why?" Naruto replied in a flat voice.

"What sort of business?"

"Red, what did you call for?" Naruto countered ignoring her question.

"Why do you have a Lamia in your apartment?"

"A what now?"

"Lamia, a snake humanoid youkai. Completely female race that have a human torso and a snake lower body." Rias explained calmly, having half expected that he wouldn't know.

"Oh Hikari-chan; found her really sick from food poisoning and malnutrition in the abandoned mansion where I was stabbed, couldn't leave her there to die so I took her home to heal her. Why are you in my apartment when I'm not home?"

"I was coming to get you for a meeting so we could start getting you into doing your devil work." Rias said while trying keep how embarrassed she was about being called out on teleporting into someone else's home while they weren't there.

"And you couldn't just call me because?"

"I wanted to teleport you, maybe talk for a bit."

Naruto sighed as he rubbed the palm of his hand in his eye "I'll be back in town in a couple of hours, Red. I'll call you when I get there. Be nice to Hikari, the kid seems to have had a rough go of it."

"How come she gets called her name and we all get random nicknames?" You could almost hear the pout in her voice from the other end of the line, causing Naruto to grin.

"Two reasons: one she has yet to call me a ghost." Naruto laughed as he heard the red haired girl huff. "And two, I met her last night while I know all you well enough to not consider you strangers."

That remark caused Rias to pause, she hadn't thought the random, disrespectful and in some cases slightly demeaning nicknames they had been given were Naruto's way of showing endearment. "So what does it take to see us as friends?"

"Trust." Naruto shot back without a second thought. "See you when I get back there, Red."

* * *

Rias sighed while pulling the phone away from her ear, her other hand running through her long red locks while she contemplated what to do. Sliding her phone back into the pocket of her black and red coat, she made her way back to the living room, leaving the surprisingly still sleeping Lamia in the bedroom. The knee length maroon skirt swayed as she walked back to the couch, taking a seat to think.

When she first saw someone in Naruto's bedroom, having gotten the address from her other Rook, Rias had felt a flare of jealousy; that died quickly when she saw how young and ill looking the girl was. Taking the time to look the girl over allowed her to notice the bruises and barely healed cuts across her arms, the sunken skin around her cheekbones; and finally the long twitching purple scaled snake tail sticking out from the bottom of the blanket.

Everything was leading to one very bad conclusion, one that seem to go very contrary to everything else she knew about the blonde boy she'd been trying to get to know better. Taking a deep breath, to calm her nerves she started to take in everything else in the room. There were many freshly laid out blankets, as well as a space heater making the room more the comfortably warm for her and likely many other beings; Naruto included as he was always exuding a great deal of body heat, however it made it perfect for a resting cold-blooded being.

The girl seem to have a very small smile on her lips as she snuggled into the bed, as if she was completely at ease. This indicated she was content being there, something that if she was older would have made Rias jealous again. Slipping out of the room into the hallway to look for the blonde, she found herself getting more annoyed that her savior seem to let younger looking girls closer to him than anyone else. If he didn't show such complete obliviousness towards anyone showing interest in him, and nervous confusion to intimate physical contact of any sort, she would have thought him attracted to that sort of girl.

When she found that the boy of her thoughts was not home, the clearly displayed books he borrowed from her showing she was in the right apartment, she started to worry something had happened to him, the weak signal that his evil pieces gave not helping her nerves at all. Worried that he wasn't in his apartment when he hadn't told any of them he was leaving, nor had any of her Peerage seen him around town, Rias quickly pulled out her cell phone and called the boy. It had taken 5 rings before he picked up, each ring increasing her worry, causing her to come off a slight bit testy when he finally answered.

Now here she was sitting in the apartment she'd been searching for, for the better part of 3 months. One that had to be shown to a member of her Peerage before they could finally locate it. Needless to say, she felt a little let down at the plainness of it. She had half expected it to be some ninja exposition for the amount of difficulty they had had looking for him. It had been a running joke among them that the boy was a ninja that was playing with them; her inner otaku let her imagination get the better of her after that. With Ajuka showing them how Naruto's reincarnation turns him into a dragon, she started to feel true hope against Riser. Then last night, she had dreams of him being a ninja dragon hero that came in at the last second, burning with black fire and chasing off Riser and an army of other devils.

Needless to say, she really wanted to see him today. At least she knew now that he did have a soft spot for helping those in need; which was a nice sign given how normally emotionless he came off, often giving Koneko a run for her money in the department. "I really don't know what I'm going to do with this guy." Rias said as she started up her teleport circle to return to her club room. "He just doesn't make any sense." with that last mutter she disappeared, the sleeping Lamia in the next room never even knowing she had been there.

* * *

Naruto lazily walked into the old Kuoh school building with his hands in his pants pockets. It had just over 2 hours since Rias had called him from inside his apartment, after arriving he'd called her back asking where she was and where she wanted to meet. Apparently after the fuss she'd made, she had gotten either lazy or bogged down with paper work. Naruto was willing to bet that her being lazy is what had made all the paperwork to begin with so it could really go either way.

Deciding he was going to have some fun with the girl, and anyone else that was waiting for him, the blonde ninja quieted his movements and quickly slipped into the room, barely making a sound as the door opened and he slipped into the room and onto the couch beside the snacking Koneko.

"Buchou, you really should have had this finished yesterday." Akeno said while she looked over the redhead's shoulder reading the forms that her King had just finished filling out.

"I know Akeno but with Belzeebub coming over, and the revelations about Naruto-kun I was really distracted." Rias said trying to play off the blame.

"And your anime had nothing to do with your distraction?" The black-haired Queen questioned with a knowing grin, which only caused Rias to blush in reply.

"Anyways, Naruto-kun should be here soon so let's put that aside for now." Rias said quickly, hoping to prevent farther embarrassment.

"Already here." Koneko said after finishing her cookie off; which Naruto noticed was one of the ones he had gotten her; causing everyone to snap their heads in her direction.

"I wondered where those went." The boy said lightly while he looked at the cookies in front of his white haired friend, a small grin on his face letting her know that he didn't mind. Looking back at the shocked looks on Rias and Akeno faces made his entrance worth the effort; though Yuto didn't seem surprised at all. "Hey, I made it."

Rias twitched getting over her surprise at the sneaky entrance, before she too noticed Yuto's lack of surprise. "Did you notice him coming in Yuto-kun?"

The princely boy simple flipped to the next page of his magazine before replying "No Buchou, I've simply given up caring when he is going to arrive." His voice was flat and distracted, as if the other blonde's sudden arrive didn't matter.

"Ouch Prep, so cold." Naruto stated dramatically, only to receive a poke in the ribs from Koneko for his efforts at a joke. Though Akeno did start to giggle, while Rias lost the twitch at the light humor; even if they all now knew he was just putting it on for their comfort, Koneko's poke being the sign that he was faking.

"You scared me senseless by appearing behind me, 8 times in the last three days. Excuse me for stopping caring, you slippery blonde bastard." Yuto said with a deadpanned look in his eyes.

"Does that mean you don't want to spar after the meeting?"

"Of course I do, what does that have to do with you being a sneaky pain in the ass?" The Knight asked, copying Naruto's innocent head tilt perfectly.

"Copy cat!"

"Like you're one to talk after copying my moves to use against me."

"Okay boys, enough." Rias said, a small smile on her face as how much more relaxed Yuto was becoming around the other blonde. "Now Naruto, I called… you… Akeno what are you doing?"

Naruto was having the exact same question running though his mind, as he not only had become a seat for Koneko on his right side. Somehow Akeno had managed to make it around behind them to take up a seat on his left leg, draping her body along his as if he had just become her new bed.

"Why, getting comfortable of course Buchou." The lightning user said, a playful grin on her face as a hand slowly worked its way up the boy's chest.

Naruto only needed a glance to see her bedroom eyes locking with his; causing him to forcible suppress his blush, even if other parts were harder to suppress. The light of glee that appeared in her eyes let him know that he was caught before he could get his body back under control, and he looked away from her. "Damn, this round to you tease." Naruto muttered before looking back to the redhead.

Rias' eyebrow started twitching again, but she managed to take a few deep calming breaths before talking again. "Akeno please get off Naruto-kun so we can talk."

"Awww, and I was just starting to get comfortable Buchou." Akeno whined as she got up and moved over to the other couch, missing the lipped 'thank you' Naruto sent the club president.

"Anyways as I was saying, I've talked with Belzeebub-sama and despite you not having turned into a true devil, because of your registered Evil Piece's you'll still be recognized as a devil." Rias explained, a small smile on her lips. "Belzeebub-sama is also going to keep what you are out of the public eye while he runs some test on you. Nothing too invasive, mostly what you've already been through if not a more detailed scan if he needs too. As you are the first to ever have this happen to them, he wants to see how it happened."

Naruto nodded while he steeped his tea. "That makes some sense, don't want the public to get scared that something could go wrong for them and start killing people."

"Yes exactly." Rias said, as she was thinking she could use this as a surprise against Riser. "As you are going to be recognized as a normal devil, you'll have to do devil jobs as well." Naruto sighed before pulling out a thousand yen note and passing it to Yuto, who looked smug. "You won't really need them, as according to Belzeebub-sama your own magic reserves put you well above any mid-class devil…" here Yuto grumbled and passed back the note plus added another thousand to it. "Did you two seriously bet on the outcome?"

"Sorry Red, but he kept trying to tell me that I'd be doing requests for twice as long because I wasn't a real devil." Naruto said while he slipped the notes in his pocket.

Rias deadpanned at the two boys "Any other bets I should know about?"

Naruto shrugged, "We have a few going, as I do with Sparky and Kitten. Honestly I think you're the only person I don't have at least one bet going with." The blonde noted, seemingly in thought, not noticing the slight dip in Rias's mood, realizing she was the odd one out in the group. "Though; that is likely because we've never really challenged each other about mundane things."

"Pardon?"

Naruto scratched his head while he tried to put his thoughts to words. "Well, Prep and I train and spar a lot, so what we talk about mostly revolves around that in one form or another. When we come to a disagreement, we make a bet on it. Akeno likes to tease me and joke in that fashion so we have ongoing bet on who'll beat who, while Kitten and I made a bet on the school's reaction to her arrival."

Rias, although still unhappy that she wasn't getting closer to her new Rook, was intrigued by his bet with Koneko. "Oh and what's the bet on her arrival?"

"I'll be ignored like him." The white haired girl said, having stopped snacking for a bit to keep up with the conversation.

"And I say that unless she can spell the whole school within a month she'll be as popular as you three." Naruto said while holding his tea, giving the girl on his lap a look like he'd already won the bet and was just waiting for her to admit it.

"Oh and what's the winner get?" Rias asked, interested in what the winners get from these bets.

"Anything they want as long as they put up equal value." Naruto said easily, not in the least be worried. "Preppy mostly puts up money, or one or two contracts he wants to get rid of. Sparky wants to bet time, like I have to follow anything she says for a day or vice versa. Kitten here and I bet paid meals for each other for whatever the other wants to eat."

"You'll bet anything?" Rias said surprised.

"Almost, my necklace and a coat I have are off limits, as they are the only clues I have left of where I came from; otherwise if you'll match the price I'm game." Rias started to get a wicked grin on her face as the possibilities for this started to run through her mind. However before she could make her bet Naruto cut off her thoughts. "Just remember, you place whatever you want from me as a wager, I'll counter with something I think is of equal value to me before we agree on the bet, if we both don't agree on everything, no bet takes place." Naruto said, being sure that she didn't get any ideas of trying to trick him into something. Although it did stop some of her crazier ideas, Rias didn't lose her grin completely, even if she couldn't use this to get everything she wanted form him it would still give her plenty of ways to get to know her newest member.

Shaking away the thoughts for now, as she had to really think about what she could give up if she lost; some things she was willing to give up for something in return but wasn't about to just let go of for nothing in return should she lose. "I'll keep that in mind, but for now I wanted to let you know that you will have to hand out fliers as I explained before and you can start learning magic now. Have you decided what type of magic you wanted to learn?"

Naruto sighed as he leaned back into his seat; his lolling back to stare at the ceiling. "I haven't finished the books you gave me yet, been pretty busy all things considered; however I can say I'm interested in Shadow magic, Ice magic and dimensional magic."

Now everyone was paying Naruto close attention, as those were very difficult branches of magic, dimensional magic was also very obscure as well. "Any reason for those types, they are all very difficult to learn."

"Mostly supplement spells really." Naruto answered while looking back at the red haired girl. Seeing she didn't understand, he started to elaborate. "All three allow for collaboration with you four. Shadow magic allows for me to either hide myself and others in shadows or travel in them, good for sneak attacks and escapes if I need to get one of you out of a situation. Same with Dimensional magic but allows for a wider range of areas to move to, as well as more support skills to cover my growing attack abilities, never good to over specialize." The others nodded, a little in awe at the depth he was thinking about such things, also realizing that he was right in his note about over specialization. "Ice is more for collaboration spells with Sparky, mixing lightning and Ice will give stronger effects on opponents, and cover some bases I noticed she was lacking in, mostly fire based opponents."

"Amazing," Rias said while she thought over what the whiskered marked teen had said. "Other than Akeno have you thought over everybody's fighting style?"

"Well no, I can only go on what I know, and have seen." Naruto said shaking his head. Rias signaled him to continue his thoughts on the matter. Scratching his head while he thought about what he knew, he tried to explain what he knew and what he thought up. "Sparky gave me a basic run down of her abilities and fighting style after I questioned her about the fight the night I was stabbed; which was an impressive display by the way." Rias and Akeno both flushed a little at the praise, "I could see some areas for improvement, however I ended up dead in that fight so I have no room to really talk." Naruto said with a chuckle, missing the looks everyone was giving him for his disregard for how he died. "Anyway; while you both showed great skill in keeping opponents at bay, leading them into traps and working with others, none of you there that night showed any real skill in hand to hand. Sparky said you are both 'Wizard' types, meaning you focused on high end magical attack, basically making you both glass cannons. However as I'm sure you realized with the webs around that place, being in confined spaces is hazardous to your health in a fight."

Rias winced as she remembered how close she had been to being caught by the webs and Cerastes because she was only able to dodge them, not fight back. ' _Even a small amount of hand to hand self defense would have helped._ '

"My spars with Prep showed me he is speed-based fighter with a lot of skill in sword fighting." Yuto gave a small smile but didn't let the praise get to him as Naruto had already told him his weaknesses. "As we've only had a couple of spars I don't know many weaknesses in his style that I can point out I do know that the glaring ones are his stamina and endurance. If he's in a drag out fight with someone like a Rook that can weather his attacks he'd lose, or if his opponent can hit him as much as he hits them he'd not be able to last through the damage; pretty boy weakness that."

"Bite me." Yuto remarked at the shot at his looks.

"Sorry man I don't swing that way." Naruto countered with a small grin, one that Yuto matched as he was glad to have another guy to joke around with. "But that's about all I have so far." Naruto finished towards Rias.

"No advice for Koneko?"

"Never seen Kitten fight; I can only tell so much from talking with someone." Naruto said with a shrug.

"That's fine, I'll have to make some time for us all to train together so that we can find ways to cover each other. I do want to see the extent of your abilities anyway." Rias said as she walked around her desk while she spoke. "That can wait for a day or two however as you still need to hand out fliers, and everyone else needs to get ready to start answering requests."

"Fair enough." Naruto said as he poked Koneko in the ribs until, while pouting, she got off his lap. Taking the box full of fliers that Akeno pulled from 'somewhere', the slitted eyed blonde left the room, hoping to finish this quickly so that he could work on his Chakra control and growth. ' _I can't wait to use Shadow Clones again; this will be so much faster then._ '

* * *

Naruto held his hand over his mouth while letting out a loud yawn, wanting nothing more than to turn around and head back to his apartment and back to bed. Not that his company on his trek to school would let him. The red headed beauty whom was his company was far too happy walking beside him, once in awhile tugging on his coat sleeve to pull him back from walking into traffic in his half asleep state. "Honestly Naruto-kun how did you make it to school before if you're this bad in the morning?" Rias asked

"Don't know." Naruto muttered, while giving a half nod to an older man who was sweeping outside his family owned café.

"Oh, Uzumaki-san, you're early." The man said with a happy simple, not at all put off by the boy's bleary eyed look.

"Too damn early, damned school." Naruto grumbled out in reply.

"Oh ho, that time of the year again I see. Nice to see a nice young lady finally saw past you bad boy attitude." The man said with a laugh. "Just hold on a second you two, I'll be right back."

Before Rias could even say anything, the man stepped back in the door calling out for someone, Naruto himself let his body lean on the guardrail for the sidewalk trying to squint his eyes to see but keep the sun out of them. Only a few minutes later, the happy man returned with two travel cups and a paper bag "Here you go, one large black coffee for you Naruto, and one cup of hot tea for your lovely girlfriend. The missus also slipped you a couple of croissants so please enjoy."

"Thanks Shido-ojj-san, but she's not my girlfriend." Naruto grunted out, taking his coffee, missing the blush on Rias face from the man's comment, and the slight disappointment at Naruto dismissal, before the boy took a sip and started to wonder back down the road.

Although Naruto missed the look, the slightly older man didn't. "Don't worry about him Miss, Naruto has to be one of the densest, caring boys I've ever met. I'd say you'd have to hit him in the head with a sign before he'll realize someone likes him, though if you do pursue him I wish you luck. You are likely to have a lot of competition." The man laughed again at Rias's surprised and slightly confused look. "A lot of the young women in the area have been trying to get his attention for awhile now, my own daughter included; but he just continues on with whatever is going on in that head of his. Anyways, you better catch up before he gets himself lost again. I'd better let everyone know he's started school again."

"Oh right, how much do I owe you for the drinks" Rias asked reaching toward he bag.

"On the house, Naruto's always volunteering around the community, and helping us. It's the least we can do." Shido said with a smile, waving the girl off, before he laughed a bit when he saw another of the shop owners in the area pulling the dazed boy away from traffic. "Good luck getting him to class." he said with a snicker.

Rias saw what he was laughing at and sighed. "Thank you very much for the tea and breakfast Shido-san." Rias said with a quick bow before chasing down the boy before he got too far ahead. At least she got an answer on how he made it to school alive now, the people whom he helped by volunteering helped him make it through his morning zombie-like state.

Shaking away the thoughts, she caught up to the slowly awakening blonde and again started to lead him to school. "Why were you in my bed this morning again?" Naruto finally asked, his brain starting to function at last, about a block away from their school.

"Hmm? Oh, I had wanted to ask you something after you finished off your flier delivery, but you had gone right home. So after Hikari-chan and I talked for a bit I just decided to pass the night there." Rias explained with a happy sigh at the very good tea she'd been given.

"That explains why my apartment not my bed."

"Have you ever tried sleeping next to a Lamia? They get clingy and can constrict like a Boa." Rias said with a deadpanned look. "I've seen her 'cuddling' a cushion, I rather enjoy breathing."

Naruto remembered one of the times he'd found the snake girl sleeping in the living room, and nodded resolutely. "Fair enough; and the reason you were nude?"

Here Rias shrugged easily "I don't like sleeping with clothes on, I can't get comfortable."

"Ah" Naruto said before finishing off his coffee. "This going to happen a lot?"

"Maybe, you were very comfortable to sleep with." The red head said with a smirk. "Why, does it bother you?"

"Not overly" Naruto said shaking his head neutrally "Just going to have to set an earlier alarm so we can shower in the morning. Maybe make breakfast too; Hikari-chan is horrible at cooking anything but eggs"

Rias giggled a bit. After meeting the overly polite girl, she had taken a shinning to her. The lamia was shy, polite and very quiet when you first met her. However, once she was used to you she became hyper and very clumsy, she was also very eager to help out anyway she could, often making a mess when she tried. After a few failed attempts at cooking she'd given up and stuck to cleaning the apartment for her 'Naruto-nii-san'. "At least she's a cute little imouto."

Naruto just snorted. He'd been hoping she'd be on her way back to her parents by now, or at least another relative; everyone that had family deserved to be with them if they could. However it turned out easier said than done, the tribe she had been a part of had been attacked, the few survivors scattered. So for now Naruto just decided to let the girl stay, which made her very happy and more than a little clingy. ' _I'm going need a job to get a bigger place._ '

"Looks like I won the bet." Naruto said as the gates of the school came into view. Rias could barely contain her giggles as both of them caught view of Koneko. The small white haired girl was in the middle of a swarm of students, all asking her questions and commenting on her cuteness; not even Yuto's entrance could do more then make a small dent in the crowd.

"I think we may need to help her." Rias said as she started to see the girl fidget from how nervous she was getting.

Naruto thought for a minute before nodding. "Kitten, get ready for it." Naruto said in a voice only slightly louder than his normal speaking tone, not something that normal students would make note of. But Koneko had divulged that, not only did she have a great sense of smell she also had enhanced hearing as well. The girl looked his way and nodded only slightly, knowing she was about to get her chance but she was only going to get one. "Red, you may want to plug your ears for this."

Rias looked at the boy in confusion before trusting his advice and covering her ears when she saw the blonde pull out a small set of orbs about the size of marbles. Her eyes followed when he threw them towards the empty sports field, only for her eyes to open to their widest when on impact the orb set off a loud Bang, drawing everyone in the area's attention to it. Rias quickly swung her attention back to where Naruto had been, only to notice how both he and Koneko had disappeared in the commotion. "Slippery Blonde Bastard." Rias muttered; having taken a page from the princely blonde's book; then again the only person who hadn't referred to him by that title at least once was Koneko.

The white-haired girl had instead made every effort to try tracking him down, sort of like a game of hide and seek that would start at odd times. It had started the day after Naruto had started handing out fliers. Naruto had left during their meeting in the evening taking a box of flier with him, the second he had disappeared Koneko was on her feet moving for the door at a fast clip only giving the others a short "I'll find him." before disappearing after the boy.

The younger Rook seem to have made it her personal goal to find a way to track the boy, however when they were in the meeting room they almost always were seated with each other. They never seemed displeased with each other, and even held their weird short answer conversations. As they seem to still get along fine, Rias didn't make a move to intervene, and even found it very cute when the girl would return with a twitch in her eyebrow as she'd yet to catch him.

Shaking the thoughts away, Rias put up her practiced smile and made her way into the school to find her best friend, even if he'd left her standing alone. Naruto had spent the morning with her and walked her to school which was a step closer to him opening up to her and the rest of her Peerage. Plus, she needed to make plans to have Akeno and Yuto come to collect him so that it would be a big show, something she knew he'd hate and was revenge for leaving her standing alone outside the school.

* * *

"I'm never going to underestimate perverts again." Naruto said quietly. He was currently sitting at a small café with Koneko and Akeno, as Rias was called back to her family home over 'family matters' as she had called it. As it was Saturday all of them were in their street clothes. Akeno wore a white blouse and dark blue skirt with open-toed sandals. Naruto was in a black tee shirt with red flame print on the side, blue jeans and white shoes. Koneko was wearing a pale blue dress that had a kitten playing with a ball of yarn tastefully printed near the bottom of it, a gift Naruto himself had bought her last week. The reason for his remark was he was seated with his laptop open to his bank account; both girls on either side of him could only nod in equal shock. It was October 9th and he had asked them both to help him find a new house to move to after the publisher had called to inform him that his first check for Ichi Ichi had come in. As they were looking, Akeno had asked what his price range was, leading to them all checking his bank account, needless to say the amount of zeros was very enlightening to how many perverts there were out there.

"Ara ara, Ghosty-kun you are treating us to dinner right?" Akeno asked, having her hand firmly on his leg.

"Ya Sparky, my treat. Just as long as we find a house for Hikari and I to move into, I'll buy you both anything you want for dinner." Naruto said

"How?" Koneko asked

"You still haven't caught me."

"How are they connected?"

"Catch me first, I'll explain everything." Naruto answered locking eyes to the cat-themed girl, showing that he wasn't going to back down on this, and that he had a reason for it. The girl stared for a little while before finally nodding her consent. "Thank you Kitten."

"Trust you."

Naruto gave her a small smile at that before turning away. Koneko scooted closer, allowing for her to touch him while making it look like she was looking at his computer, but as she did a light blush came to her face. The smile that was still on the blonde's face was real, his first that the girls had ever seen; and with her emotion sensing it felt like a candle was lit in a dark room, a small light that shined brightly in the darkness. Koneko looked over to the other girl across from her, Akeno had caught the smile and was looking towards her white-haired friend to find out if he was starting his mask or not; seeing the smaller girls blush and nod Akeno relaxed her grip on him but didn't remove her hand.

"So what type of place are we looking for, Ghosty-kun?" Akeno questioned pulling her pony-tailed black hair over her shoulder to play with while they searched for houses in the area that were available.

"Two stories, fair sized yard, 5 bedrooms at least, decent living room and dining room; and away from the main part of town but still walking distance from school."

"Oh? Why so many bedrooms?" She asked while still searching for what he described on the relater website.

"My Uncle is coming up for a few weeks, so I need a room for him, plus I want to leave an open invitation for all of you to stay the night as you need." The boy explained

"Your Uncle?"

"My guardian. He's a major pervert and far too immature to be consider a father figure, but he does what he can to make sure I'm taken care of, he's also the one that provided my 'allowance' for my apartments and school supplies. Though considering my new income I think I can tell him it's not needed anymore." Naruto explained, having to hold back his amusement at the look of disdain on Koneko's face when he told them his Uncle's perversion.

"Ufufuf, and why haven't you introduced us to him before now, Ghosty-kun?" The black haired girl asked with a smile that flirted between amused and intrigued.

Naruto could only shrug "He visited maybe once a year at most, normally only for a day or two. If he stays for the week, as he said he would this time, it will be his longest visit since I was 11." Akeno lost her smile and turning slightly bashful with her callous comment, as he had said he lived alone before. "I'm going to need to call him once we find a good place so he can sign off on it, and so he has the address for where I'm moving. Don't need the idiot wondering around lost in town again." he finished getting a small giggle for the girl before she could fall into a bad mood.

"Yard wall." Koneko spoke up, pulling their attention to her. "Sunbathing."

Akeno nodded happily while Naruto blinked in confusion, admittedly he could understand the need for privacy for sunbathing, but why his house; he wasn't looking for a pool. "Am I getting a pool?"

"Hikari."

"Right." Naruto said remembering that she would like to get outside during the day too, as the sun would help her scales.

"Pool later." Koneko finished.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked but was totally ignored by the two as the skimmed through the houses; leaving the boy feeling as if he had just been told that he'd wasn't getting much choice. If they informed Hikari, she'd side with them against him. ' _Why do I get the feeling I should get used to this?_ '

"Oh, here's one." Akeno said, before Koneko reached out and pointed to another. "Oh my, look at this one." Naruto simply leaned back into his seat, drinking his coffee while he let the girls work through the choices. He couldn't keep up to them anyways so he wasn't about to try helping till they had narrowed the choices down. He didn't really care where he ended up beyond that it covered his needs and that of those that stayed with him.

Two hours after they had started, the girls finally settled on a house that had everything they needed, and wouldn't completely drain all Naruto's funds. The house was a 20 minute walk from the Kuoh Academy grounds, and was set into the trees enough that gave a feeling of privacy while still being able to have access to the city itself easily. The 3/4 acre grounds were surrounded by a nine foot high white stone wall with square pillars marking the corners, and large double old oak doors for the front entrance. The house itself was built in an older traditional design, featuring rice paper doors inside and thin walls, bamboo tiled roof and tiamat flooring. From the gate to the house was a cobblestone walking path between a zen gardens on the left and a medium sized Koi pond to the right.

The main floor held the living room that could easily seat 12 people, a dining room for 10 with separate fully furnished kitchen. On the other side of the living room were a study and the main bathroom, with both Ofuro and a shower stall, while there was a second washroom on the second floor. There was 7 bedrooms including the master bedroom that could hold a king size bed and desk.

The backyard was the selling point for the girls. It had a rose garden across the far wall, shrubs on either side, with large walking areas made of cobblestone paths leading to a gazebo in the centre, allowing for a photogenic view to relax in until they got the pool installed. The realtor had just walked them into the back of the house and the girls turned to her and at the same time said "We'll take it."

Naruto just sighed and called Azazel to get it sent through, by this time the following day he'd own a house that was far too large for him, however at least his adoptive little sister would have room to move around and get outside now.

* * *

Naruto coughed loudly as he opened the door to his apartment, receiving a cloud of smoke to the face as he did so. "Hikari, open a window!" He shouted as he waved the smoke away from his face, walking in ahead of Akeno, who had followed him home carrying a takeout tray for the snake girl.

"Sorry Nii-san." The young girl shouted before rushing away to the balcony door and pulling it open. "I was trying to surprise you." The sadness in her voice could be clearly heard, "I am trying…"

"Too hard." Naruto cut her off. "You are trying too hard, calm down Imouto." His voice was relaxed and reassuring, while he stepped over to the oven, turning it off and removing the burnt attempted at what he assumed was supposed to be stir-fry. Laying the whole pan in the sink and spraying some water on it, he continued. "We brought you diner so just relax and come enjoy some sushi."

"I'm sorry." Hikari said, her shoulders slump forwards as she made her way across the floor to the table. The last month under Naruto's care had done a great deal of good for the previously sickly thin girl. She was now wearing a shirt and skirt combination that was bought for her by Rias and picked out by Koneko. The shirt was a midnight blue chest hugger; it also double as a training bra, with a second layer which looked like a loose open blouse in a matching shade. Her skirt was aquamarine and would have only reached her mid thigh if she had legs, however with her tail it was perfect for covering her without getting in the way.

She had gained back some weight that she had lost, giving her face and arms a rounder look that was healthy for a girl her age. Akeno had cleaned up and cut her hair into a pixie cut, getting rid of the split ends that made her hair look frizzy, so it now fell into a more smooth, natural style.

"Ara ara, there's no need for you to be sorry Hikari-chan. Neither of us is upset with you." Akeno said with a pleasant smile on her face as she moved to give the young Lamia a hug; one that was quickly returned by the affectionate youth.

"She's right you know. I'd only be upset if you hurt yourself doing something like this." Naruto said while he set out her dinner on a plate, while getting ready to clean up her mess. "Also start packing, the girls found us a house today so we're moving out tomorrow afternoon."

Hikari's head snapped up at that, a look of hope and nervousness in her eyes. "Really?"

"Ufufuf, Yes really Hikari-chan, we even made sure that it had a big private yard so you can go outside." Akeno said with a grin that made the snake girl smile happily.

"Big tub too so you can take a proper bath, though I'm going to get it expanded later on so you'll be able to stretch out, but for now you'll at least fit in it completely, unlike our shower now." Naruto explained distractedly, as he scrapped the burnt food into the garbage, making note of what was lost in her attempt at cooking. He was forced to stop however when he was grabbed from behind by his over excited little sister.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you nii-san."

Naruto sighed and patted her hands that were hugging his stomach, a small grin on his face. "Go eat your dinner, then get packing. Akeno's taking you over there tomorrow so you can pick your room out. Master bedroom's mine though."

"Hai!" The girl called out excitedly before rushing to the table and grabbing a few pieces of sushi, then rushing back to the bedroom to collect her clothes.

"Well she is certainly happy" Akeno said with a giggle.

"Can't blame her, she'll finally get a room of her own, get to go outside again, and get a proper bath again." Naruto sighed as he leaned against the counter top. "This place was never meant to house two people, never mind a snake person whose tail is close to 12 feet long. Plus I wasn't exactly set financially to feed two people, so it's been hard to keep up with the bills."

Akeno tilted her head while she looked at the boy, not noticing the girl poking her head out the bedroom door to listen. "Do you regret taking her in?" she asked trying to understand what the blonde was trying to say.

"Not so much taking her in, rather not being able to find her family." Naruto said his head down while he tried to find the words to express himself. "She deserves so much more then I can give her. That girl is so affectionate and caring. She wastes it on someone like me, that can't feel anything anymore. I want her to be happy and surrounded with the same love she gives off, something I can't do. I want to love her like the brother she sees me as, but how can I if I don't know what love is?" Naruto's voice was showing the frustration with himself as he tried to explain what was wrong, and how much he realized was wrong with him.

Akeno lightly laid one of her hands on his chest, her normal flirty attitude missing from her face as she spoke. "Is it wrong to let yourself be loved like that, Naruto? We all know how you are, and you admit you want to change it but don't know how, so let us show you. Let Yuto be your brother, let Hikari be your sister, let us love you until you know what it is so you can learn to love us back."

Before either could say anything more, a purple bullet shot out from the living room and tackled into them both. "Please let us. Please, please, please." The girl cried out, tears in her eye soaking into the boy's shirt.

"Okay. Okay you win." Naruto said while he hugged Hikari back. "I still think you deserve better though."

"Nii-san no baka." The girl said, "I don't want better, I want my Naruto-nii-san."

"Ufufuf, I do believe you have just been told, Ghosty-kun." Akeno said while she was awkwardly stuck in the hug with the two.

"Quiet nee-chan, you're ruining the moment." Hikari mutter to the black-haired girl.

"I wasn't the only one, it seems, Sparky." Naruto said with a chuckle, rubbing one hand up and down Hikari's back to calm her down, while the other was around Akeno to keep her from losing her balance.

* * *

The next day, Naruto and Hikari had finished packing up all their belongings, both of whom really didn't have much; Naruto by choice, Hikari by lack of availability; and were teleported to their new house by Rias and Akeno. Rias had teleported in to his room in the middle of the night, simply stripped and curled into him and Akeno, whom just got into bed after him and fell asleep, ignoring any questions he asked. So he'd ended up waking up just as he had the first morning of his new life, sandwiched between the two beautiful women.

Now that Naruto had started getting used to waking up with Rias finding her way in to his bed; often give random excuses if asked; he'd taken to having a body pillow stored in the corner of the room for use of his now mastered Kawarimi no jutsu. This allowed him to escape the grip of the girls and get to the kitchen and make breakfast before Hikari tried again.

At seeing the house, Rias was flabbergasted at the size and that Naruto had bought it flat out, though not so surprised that it pretty much drained his account, meaning he'd be doing over time with his devil jobs in an effort to cover his food expenses for the next month until either Azazel noticed his lack of money or his next royalty check came it. The fact that the redhead was talking to her black-haired friend about making him buy a bed really made him worry about his future sleeping habits. He'd even told them they could have their own rooms, only to get a patronizing smile and his cheek pinched.

Currently the elder girls had left to head to the clubroom, both to cover their duties and to inform Yuto of Naruto's new address as well as the open invitation to visit and stay if needed. This left the blonde to finished unpacking what he could into the rooms. His lack of furniture was going to be a overly apparent until he could collect some money but with how well the first Ichi Ichi book did, he doubted he'd be lacking for too long.

Sighing as he moved the last box of kitchenware into the kitchen, Naruto took a moment to walk out in to the front yard, something that was going to be a bit of work to get back up to working standards. While the Zen garden was easy to maintain, the Koi pond was going to been to be completely cleaned and new fish put into it, the yard walls were also going to need to be cleaned and the grass cut. Naruto pulled his shirt off, using it to wipe the sweat from his brow. While the move wasn't hard for him, he had been running around a lot in the sun, and moving larger items for his sister. Finding a nice place to sit and take a break, the boy closed his eyes to enjoy the gentle breeze.

"Eh? Umm but this is supposed to be the church?" A voice quietly sounded out from the front doorway of the yard. Naruto opened his eyes to look at the source and blinked in surprise; the voice came from a young blonde-haired girl that was dressed like a nun. Her head was covered in a white veil with blue trim, while her body was covered in a black robe with a silver cross clasping the neck part closed.

"Um, hi?" The whiskered haired blonde asked as he approached the girl, noticing that she was dragging a suitcase that was barely held close behind her and held a map in her left hand.

"Ehhh!?" The yelped in shock at Naruto seemingly appearing in front of her, which made the blonde boy grin a little as he found her flustered expression cute.

Before either to say any more a shout came for inside. "NII-SAN IS EVERYTHING O…. AHHH!" followed by a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass. Naruto took off towards the house without even looking back, as the unknown nun followed only steps behind him.

The scene that the young nun came into was an odd sight to behold. At the base of a stair well, laid out in the arms of the blonde boy that scared her before was a snake girl; around her was what looked to be a broken vase, shards of which were spread across the floor. The girl was having her hands examined by the boy as if her being half snake was normal, then she saw what he was looking at that had the snake girl in tears; a larger shard of the vase had punctured her hand completely.

"Damn it Hikari, this is why I warned you to slow down." Naruto said as he looked over her hand.

"I'm sorry Nii-san, *sniff* I didn't see the vase and…" Her excuse was cut off by the boy lightly flicking her head. "Nii-san?"

"A vase can be replaced, you can't. So slow down." Naruto said while carefully getting her up and brushing the glass shards away from them. "Come on, we need to get this cleaned up and…"

Naruto was cut off from talking when the nun from outside approached them. "Ahno… I can help." She said shyly, causing both to look at her. While she seemed nervous she didn't come off as fearful.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked.

Instead of answering right away, the girl closed her eyes and two rings appeared on her hands, seconds later a green glow covered both her hands and Hikari's. The light seeped from the nun's hands and started pushing the glass from Hikari's hand, painlessly healing her wounds. Thirty seconds after she started Hikari was completely healed and could only stare at her hand in shock. "T-thank you." The snake girl said just as nervously as the nun had at first.

Naruto looked back and forth between the two nervous teens and could only sigh as they stuttered at each other. Taking a breath, he cleared his throat to get both of their attention. "I thank you miss, for healing my clumsy little sister's wound. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Uzumaki Hikari, welcome to our home." He finished with as warm a smile as he could drudge up.

The smile seemed to work as the nun smiled and blushed before answering. "Umm please to meet you, umm, how do you say your names again?"

Naruto smiled while Hikari giggled lightly at the other girl. "Family name first, given name last." Naruto explained easily.

"Oh." The blonde girl chirped "Sorry my Japanese isn't very good, but my name is Argento Asia. Thank you for welcoming me."


	5. Devil's Pass

AN: First I want to thank everyone that's reviewed my story. I have tried my best to answer everyone's questions if I can, and everyone's support helps me keep wanting to write more. I know I can't please everyone, but if anyone notices anything that they think needs addressing please feel free to message me about it.

On that Note I'd like to again thank HurricaneLaurk for Beta reading me story, and to thank SC CloudStrife and his wife for helping me iron out some plot idea's and for helping me get past my writers block and continue on with this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own any anime, despite how often I wish I did, so don't sue me. Please?

Trying Again 5

Devil's Pass

"Look, I've looked over the results four times Sirzechs. I'm not sure how she did it but your sister turned the kid into a Dragon. Admittedly the change hasn't completed itself yet but it's only a matter of time." Ajuka said as he looked into the holographic image of a young looking man with shoulder length crimson hair. The green haired scientist was sitting in a large throne like chair behind an equally large dark wooden desk; surrounding him on all the walls were massive filled bookcases. The room was lit by a bay window that was taking up a quarter of the wall, making the 8 foot high double door entrance seem small in comparison.

The image of the red haired man could be seen rubbing his temples, his eyes closed in frustration. "I understand that part, Ajuka. What I'm asking is 'is he dangerous?'"

"About as dangerous as anyone else. Kid will be powerful in the future, no doubt about that. Actually he reminds me of you when we were younger: smart, strong, disrespectful, and a horrible sense of humor."

"You forget I was devilishly handsome too." The redhead countered cockily.

"Nope, your little sister totally believes he has that covered." Ajuka said while a smirk grew on his face; which grew in speed to match the redhead's paling face. He started to laugh when the man on the other end suddenly jumped to his feet, only to be knocked back into his seat by a flash of silver on behind him.

"Oww Grayfia-chan, I need to save my sister fro…"

"Master, you must behave in a manner befitting your title. Your sister has her situation well in hand." The silver-hair maid said strictly. She would do her best to put off the two meeting as long as possible; she did not desire to see the insanity the two in the same room would cause.

Ajuka snorted quietly on the other end, causing the redhead to look at his friend. "Honestly, given the dynamic I saw, I think it's better to say Koneko has him well in hand. Kid doesn't seem to answer to anyone, but seems to have a weak spot for a pouting face. If Rias can figure that out, he'd be putty in her hands as long as she doesn't overdo it."

"That reminds me, is the servitude aspect still working for his pieces?" Sirzechs asked, once again focused on the matter at hand; only to watch the green haired man slump into his chair. "I'll take that as for a 'no'."

"Yeah it's a no." Ajuka said leaning back in his chair while looking up at the ceiling above him. "His pieces are too unstable to do anything but keep him alive and looking human at this point."

"What do you mean?"

"Whatever power is inside that boy is so strong that the evil pieces aren't able to completely hold it back. If it were to completely release into his system before he's able to handle it, his body would likely explode, taking everything nearby with him."

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Nothing." Ajuka said as he turned back down to look at the red head. "He's not a threat, and under your sisters care. As long as he keeps working on controlling his abilities he should be fine. Besides, weren't you the one that was interested in him in the first place?"

Sirzechs groaned before muttering goodbye to the laughing man on the other end of the line. Getting his laugher back under control, the green haired demon lord looked back at the results from his test two weeks beforehand. The boy had so much different types of power growing in him, he would easily grow to over power them in the future. The problem was the growth was so fast he'd need to work constantly just to learn any form of control over it. The Pawn pieces were acting like a dam to control the influx of power so that the Rook could empower him to be reincarnated.

"I wonder what Tiamat will say when she finds out about him." Ajuka wondered aloud, before shifting through more files.

* * *

"Oh." The blonde girl chirped "Sorry my Japanese isn't very good, but my name is Argento Asia. Thank you for welcoming me."

"So how can we help you Argento-san?" Naruto started to ask but stopped when he heard Hikari's stomach growl. He didn't even get to look at her before Asia's stomach growl back in reply. "On second thought, we'll discuss that over dinner."

"Oh no, I couldn't intrude like that." Asia said while waving her hands.

"I insist." Naruto said while he kneeled down and started brushing away a small path for Hikari to move through. "It's impolite to not offer a meal to a welcome guest, and you are obviously hungry. So please, Hikari can take you to the dining room before she comes back to sweep this up."

"YAY, Another new friend!" Hikari said excitedly while she grabbed Asia's hand. "You'll love Nii-san's cooking, he's really good!" Asia didn't have a chance to reply while she was dragged away by the younger girl.

Naruto smiled slightly at the happiness the girl exuded while he made his way towards the kitchen. He was happy that the nun had reacted so calmly to Hikari, Rias had made it a point to try and drill in that the church and the fallen angels wouldn't hesitate to attack them on site. To see her heal the snake girl without a second thought was refreshing to all the paranoia his redhead friend was showing.

Making his way into the kitchen, Naruto quickly went about making up chicken stir fry, being sure to start making enough to feed 8 people. He knew that since they had found out where he lived, everyone from Rias's Peerage seemed to come over for the evenings. Koneko made a habit of using his gaming console and teaching him how to play; mostly by getting him to play then beating him at every single game he owned, then some she owned as well or getting Hikari to play with her. Akeno always came with some sort of snacks she'd cooked, while Rias seemed to find his bed more comfortable than her own.

Yuto seemed the most normal of visitors, and had said his reasons flat out. "You are the only male friend I have. Why wouldn't I come hang out?"

At first he found it slightly annoying, as he didn't get to spend any time alone; something he missed quite a lot. However, once he saw them getting along with Hikari and how happy it made the young girl, he simply accepted it.

' _Speak of the devil and she shows up._ ' Naruto thought as he saw a red glow form on the floor behind him. "Naruto-kun, I found another book on Transformation Magics for Hikari-chan." Rias voice called out happily as she appeared from the teleportation circle.

Looking back, he found himself not at all surprised when the whole club appeared from the circle, nor was he surprised that Yuto was holding a four pack of Sake for them to share after dinner. "Now I'm really starting to think Kitten can smell my cooking, and lets you all know when I'm done."

"Ufufuf, we have no idea what you're talking about." Akeno said giggling "But I did bring cake."

"Smells good."

"Thanks, your plates are on the counter." Naruto said while he turned back to his cooking. "I have another guest today so no talking devil business."

Rias opened her eyes, not having expected someone else to be here. "Did you want us to…"

"It's fine, just keep business simple, she is fine with Hikari so she's safe. Just don't get to in depth." Hearing that the new guest was okay with the snake girl made everyone smile; they all thought she needed more friends. Rias was even looking through as many spell books as she could get a hold of to try and find a spell to temporarily give the girl legs so she could go to school with them.

"Nii-san look! Doesn't Asia-chan look cute… Nee-chan's! Look I made a new friend! Her name's Asia. She's from Italy." Hikari said excitedly as she dragged the blonde girl in behind her, whom seemed to have been subjected to a makeover by the hyperactive 13 year old Lamia.

The blonde nun now looked nothing like a she did when she came in, as she now had surprisingly well done make up lightly added, her robes had been replaced with a full length gold skirt with light red lining, a white blouse the was see-through enough to notice she had a red bra on. "Umm, hello." the young nun said shyly.

Naruto sighed slightly. "Yes she looks very cute Hikari, however I KNOW you don't own any clothes that would fit her. So care to explain?"

Hikari started to laugh nervously while she scratched the back of her head. "Ara ara, isn't that my blouse?" Akeno asked looking the shirt over

"I'm pretty sure that is my skirt." Rias added, her head tilted slightly as she looked at how it looked on the younger teen.

"My bra?" Koneko finished answering where the clothes came from.

Naruto just groaned before turning away to start serving out the food. He had no interest in asking Koneko why she had a bra that was at least two or three cup sizes too big for her, or why it was stored here when she still had her own apartment. ' _Not that any of them seems intent on keep separate apartments anyways._ ' "Kleptomania and forced makeovers aside, did you clean up the stairs Imouto?"

"Hai nii-san." Hikari said with a pout at being called a kleptomaniac, while everyone else snickered.

"Then everyone go wash up, dinner is ready." The boy said while he started moving everything to the dining room. Yuto and Akeno moved to help carry the dishes and food. Rias smiled slightly while she helped round up the bubbly girl and shy blonde to lead them to wash their hands, Koneko following a step behind, a slight blush realizing she admitted to owning that bra in front of the older blonde.

Once everyone had returned to the table, they seated themselves. Akeno sat herself to the left of the head of the table while Rias took the right, Koneko was down from Akeno followed by Yuto. Hikari slid in next to Rias and Asia across from Yuto; they moved Naruto's food to the head position, leaving him no choice where he sat. They all got a smile when they saw the slight awe that Asia showed at the spread before them. "Wow, this all looks delicious."

"Thank you." Naruto said as everyone reached for their chop sticks and started to eat, before he noticed the nun was saying a prayer; which caused all the devils in the room to wince. He chuckled under his breath, earning a glare from all of them, but stopped when he noticed Asia looking around for something. "Something the matter Argento-chan?"

"Umm, where are the forks?" She asked slightly worried.

Naruto slapped himself in the head, remembering that she wasn't from Japan and wouldn't know how to use chop-sticks. "Right, my bad." The boy said as he started to stand.

"I got it nii-san." Hikari said happily while she slid from her spot and headed to the kitchen.

"Last drawer next to the sink." Naruto supplied. "Sorry Argento-chan, I didn't realize you wouldn't know how to use chop-sticks."

"Oh no, I'm sorry for the inconvenience." She said while bowing her head to him.

Naruto chuckled while he reached to the Sake that Yuto had brought with him. "It's no issue; my uncle refuses to learn how to use chop-sticks so I have forks and such on hand all the time." By this time, Hikari had returned with the utensils and slid back into her spot next to Rias. As soon as she started to eat, everyone smiled and returned to their meals. "So what brought you here Argento-chan?"

"Oh yes." Asia said while she looked up from her meal, having been distracted by how good it was. "I'm sorry for having intruded on you Uzumaki-sama, I was lost and confused by the map I have."

"For starters no 'Uzumaki-Sama'. I'm Naruto, nothing more nothing less."

"Or Ghosty-kun." Akeno piped in with a mischievous grin, cutting the boy off from saying more.

"Or 'Slippery Blonde Bastard.'" Yuto throw in with a grin as well.

"Shut up you two, you're not helping." Naruto said with a slight glare. The two simple stuck their tongues out at him. "Ignoring them, what are you looking for?"

"Well I was sent to the Church here, but as I said my Japanese isn't very good. So I kept getting lost and when I was asking for help I couldn't understand them." Asia said looking sad at her inability. "It was a blessing by God that I found you." The little Nun said as she closed her eyes and raised her hands in prayer, once again missing the wince from most of the group.

"Well I doubt that there was any divine guidance, I'm happy to help you, but there isn't any active Church's in town." Naruto said while he through about it, ignoring the worry that Rias was showing. "After dinner, bring your map to me I'll see where you made you mistake."

Asia's whole body seemed to radiate happiness when she heard that. "Oh thank you Naruto-san. You are truly a gift from God."

Naruto waved it off. "Nothing of the sort, I just can't leave someone as kind as you out on their own."

"Naruto-kun, can I talk to you for a second." Rias was straining to keep a smile in place when she asked this, causing Naruto to already know what she wanted to say. Wiping his mouth on a napkin Naruto nodded and stood.

"Hikari, it's your turn for dishes." Naruto said as he expected Rias was going to take awhile to calm down. "After be sure to pull some extra blankets out for Asia, it's too late to send her out now."

"Oh no, I couldn't…" Asia tried to say, only to see both Rias and Naruto had left the room already.

"And that's why we call him Ghosty-kun." Akeno said with a smile. "Though I must say, it's rare for him to warm up to someone so quickly."

"Eh?" Asia asked in surprise. "He seems so nice though."

Hikari giggled. "That's 'cause he is, he's just shy." Hikari's smile grew while she looked over at Akeno. "But Asia-chan is super awesome. She's got this super cool healing power." The girl started saying really fast, and praising the little blonde causing the Nun to blush brightly.

"Oh?" Akeno asked her smile gaining an intrigued look.

"Uh huh." The youngest girl said while nodding happily "I tripped on a box up stairs, knocking the Vase Rias-nee-chan got us off of it. When I tried to catch it, I fell down the stairs. I cut my hand really, really bad. Asia came with Nii-san and her hands glowed really bright and all my cuts right healed up."

This got everyone attention. Not only did the Nun seem to not mind sitting and talking with a Lamia, she'd also just healed her. Said girl was blushing at the attention, and smiled sadly. "It's a gift I was given by God." The look in her eyes while she looked at her meal told all the devils that she had a bad experience with her 'gift', Hikari just kept talking about how cool it was.

In the living room Rias was trying to argue with Naruto about having the nun in the house, key word was 'trying'. "You can't keep her here Naruto, she's with the Church and could attack us at any point. They are sworn enemies of Devils, and could turn on you at any point." Naruto was simply watching her rant impassively while he leaned against the doorframe. "We need to send her away right away, tell her that…"

"Okay; stop Red." Naruto said holding up his hand, having heard enough. "I'm not sending her out."

"Naruto-kun you can't keep her here. Haven't you heard anything I've said?" The girl's voice starting to rise.

"Yep. I heard every word and I'm Ignoring your paranoia." He countered calmly. He locked his eyes with her's sharply before she could start yelling. "And I have reason."

Rias stopped when he narrowed his slitted eyes on her, his whole body screaming at her that he wouldn't listen to her unless she could prove to him she was right. Taking a breath to calm her nerves, which always gets scared when Naruto got mad, she looked up at the blue eyed dragon. "Okay, why?"

Nodding that she was now going to hear him out instead of simply demanding things of him, Naruto relaxed his shoulders. "The first thing that girl did after wandering in lost was heal Hikari's hand after she smashed your vase from falling down the stairs." Rias groaned and smacked herself in the head about the Vase, which was supposed to be a good luck charm. "Yeah, I owe you a vase. Anyways, she wasn't worried about the fact that Hikari is Lamia, just that she was hurt. When she did the healing, two rings appeared on her hands, indicating one of those Sacred Gears you keep rattling on about."

"That's interesting and all Naruto-kun but that doesn't mean she's safe to have around. She could still turn on us." Rias said while trying to make the boy see her side of things.

"Have you looked at the legends of Lamias?" Naruto asked, only to get a slightly confused nod from the red haired girl. "They said that they EAT children, if that girl was a strict follower of those teachings she'd have attacked us when we were weakened and distracted. I didn't even see her until she spoke because I was focused on Hikari, hell she could have left when she saw us and called for help to attack."

Rias winced when she realized she was losing ground quickly. "That doesn't…."

"OUCH!" Yuto's voice attracted both their attentions to the kitchen, where they quickly rushed to see what happened. They arrived just in time to see the topic of their conversation healing a large cut on the blonde boy's hand while Hikari stood behind him, a large butcher knife on the floor beside him with blood on it.

They hadn't even finished coming through the door when both were caught by the last two members of her Peerage; Koneko taking Naruto's hand, while Akeno stepped in front of Rias."Nothing to worry about Buchou, Yuto-kun only slipped while washing the butcher knife from dinner." Naruto had a deadpanned look on his face, already knowing that the Knight would not have slipped while holding a knife. Rias however was watching intently, seeing the cut disappear completely, knowing of only one gear that could heal any being, human, Devil, fallen or Youkai. ' _Twilight Healing._ '

"Well looks like I own you twice over now Asia-chan." Naruto said with a slight grin on his lips as the girl pulled away from the now healed Knight. "Once for my clumsy sister, another for my idiot friend here." Said friend flipped Naruto off while the girl stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh no, I'm happy to help." The nun said politely while she bowed her head to them, hiding her blush. "You've been so kind to me, this is the least I can do."

Seeing this as a chance to prove his point, Naruto stepped away from Koneko, lightly patting her on the head while he did so. "As I said you are welcome for the night, that won't change; but I have to ask. I know you like Hikari, but what are your views on other non-humans?"

"Oro?" The girl asked cutely while tilting her head. "What do you mean?"

"Well I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not really human, and I have friends that are Devils. I wouldn't want you to feel out of place if they were to show up, so I want to know what your thoughts on them are." Naruto continued, giving everyone a look to keep quiet until she answered.

Asia got shy and looked down as she started to fiddle with the hem of her shirt. "Well, umm. If they are nice like you and everyone else here then I wouldn't mind. I really like being friends with Hikari-san" "Chan" "Hikari-chan here. So if they are nice I'd like to be friends with them too."

"Well I think they're nice, though one of them can get kind of paranoid." Rias stuck her tongue out at the larges blonde in the room for the jab at her concern, while Akeno giggled knowing what he was poking fun at. "And they are all pretty qurky."

"Ara ara, you know you love us Ghosty-kun." Akeno said, openly admitting to being one of the devils.

"So you'll have to decide for yourself if they are nice." Naruto finished saying, pretty much acting like he didn't hear Akeno.

Asia looked in surprise at Akeno, silently asking if she was really a devil, with Akeno simply opened her devil wing. Asia looked on in awe, clearly shocked. However, everyone could see a clear lack of fear or anger, she showed absolutely no negative emotions what so ever. The little nun slowly approached the wing and then gently reached out and touched it carefully. "It's so smooth."

"Ara ara, Thank you Asia-chan, I do try to take care of it." Akeno chirped happily.

Asia realized what she was doing and quickly tried to step back and apologize, only to trip and fall onto her butt. "Owwy, ohh. I'm sorry Akeno-san."

"Ufufuf, it's quite alright Asia-chan." she said while laughing into her hand, holding out the other to help the nun up. "Now we know that Hikari-chan isn't the only clumsy one around."

"Remind me to start nailing all the tables down." Naruto muttered to Koneko, who nodded back, having seen how often the snake girl tripped on something. How she did so when she didn't really have feet to trip on amazed the white-haired girl but she did so.

"Ano, are you a devil too Naruto-san?" Asia asked as she stood back to her feet.

"Not really." The boy said as he let out his draconic wings. "I'm an anomaly. I was supposed to become a devil but something messed up the process. I'm a dragon-kin as best we can tell."

"Wow," the girl said in awe. "That is so cool." The nun was almost vibrating in excitement.

Naruto snorted at her giddiness. "Is being friends with a Dragon that much different than being friends with a Lamia or a Devil?"

Asia's eyes went wide when she was asked that, confusing everyone there. "Are… Are we really… really friends?"

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah. You helped my other friends and family, so I sort of figured you're a friend now. Why? Don't you…"

His question was cut off by the blonde girl repeating what Hikari did the night before and crashed into his stomach, hugging him, while crying and repeating "thank you" over and over again.

Naruto just patted the girl on the back before sending a look over at Rias, who simply threw her arms in the air after being proven wrong again by the boy. The small smile on her lips showed she wasn't really upset by the fact, though.

Akeno had proven that having faith in Naruto's was correct. The others had released their wings as well, showing the nun she was the only human in the room. This made her feel a little out of place, as well as having quickly apologized for having prayed around them as it had caused them pain. Naruto had tried to get the girl to bring the map to him, only for Hikari to quickly drag the blonde girl away to play games with. Leaving the boy to do the dishes as he was sure the young snake girl was going to forget about them.

* * *

The next morning, Naruto awoke to what he was starting to think was going to be a disturbing norm, of him being trapped between both Akeno and Rias. While he was fairly sure that they were doing this for a reason, it was getting very hard to keep from getting used to the two naked bodies pressed against him. The reason he found the position so disturbing was he kept feeling that they were up to something. What tha was, he didn't know, nor could he guess why.

 _"Let us love you so you can learn to love us back."_

Akeno's words came back to him as he lay there thinking. ' _Can I really learn that?_ ' The blonde boy thought to himself while he switched with the body pillow, to let the girls sleep while he went to start breakfast. As he exited the room, he was caught off guard by the smell of food being cooked, and it wasn't burning so he knew that Hikari wasn't the one trying. Making his way to the kitchen he came across who was cooking them breakfast and had to blink in surprise; there was the little nun humming a soft tune while she moved around the cooking area, making breakfast. Not at all ready to think about this he simply made his way to the kettle and flicked it on.

"OH!" Asia exclaimed when she turned to find the blonde teen fumbling around for a cup to make coffee. "I sorry Naruto-san, I didn't see you there. I hope you don't mind I was so grateful for all you've done for me that I wanted to make you breakfast to show my thanks." She was smiling happily at the teen, however all she got in return was a soft grunt while his blue eyes glared at the kettle of water, as if wishing it to boil faster.

"Don't mind nii-san, Asia-chan. Until he's had caffeine and a shower, you're talking to a zombie." Hikari said while she moved over to the counter. "Nii-san, furo is ready." Grunt, "Akeno-nee-chan's naked, waiting for you there." Grunt from Naruto and a blush from Asia. "She's with Koneko-nee-chan and Yuto-kun, they are all ready to 'play' with you in the bath." Grunt. "See Asia-chan, he doesn't reply beyond grunts and half formed words. So don't take offense, I've seen nee-chan out right offer herself to test how bad he is in the morning… He grunted at her and fell back asleep on the table." She was outright giggling at the memory of how dead to the world her brother was in the morning.

Asia giggled a bit at the image of the blonde boy sleeping on the table, a line of drool hanging from his mouth. "Okay so should we lead him to the bath then?"

"No, let him have coffee first, he may fall asleep in the tub if we don't." The purple hair girl said as she slid up to the cupboard and pulled out a mug and the instant coffee, readying it for the water and laying it beside the kettle; earning a grunt from her brother figure in reply "Welcome nii-san."

"Oro? You know what he said?" Asia asked in surprise

"Nope, but he always says thank you when I do things so I just assume he'd want to thank me." The girl said with a big grin, having gotten very used to dealing with the brain dead morning version of the boy. "As I told you last night, I've been with him for a month; he's NOT a morning person." Both girls let out a giggle, while the boy watched the kettle, never noticing the snake girl reach over and plug it in so that it would really start to heat up.

It took about an hour for Naruto to completely return to his normal self, by which point breakfast was finished and everyone else that had stayed, with the exception of Yuto, had made their way to the breakfast table. "You know, you didn't have to do this Asia. You're a guest here, I could have made breakfast." Naruto said while he sat down, once again forced to sit at the head of the table, even as he had set out his place at the side.

"I know Naruto-san, but I really wanted to show my thanks for all the kindness you've all shown me." The girl said with a happy smile on her face, which reflected just how pleased she was that she did something for them.

Naruto smiled slightly while shaking his head. "Again, not need but much appreciated." Asia gave a beaming smile with a blush on her cheeks. "That said, since we didn't get to go over your map last night, why don't you bring it here and show me where you were trying to go."

Asia nodded and quickly got her map out and showed it to the blonde boy; being sure to point out where she thought she the church she was head was. "It's right here, I was sure this was the place."

Naruto nodded sagely while everyone looked on to see if he could figure out what the problem was. "I can already tell what you were doing wrong, and it also shows me how much we need to teach you." Naruto said calmly, not an ounce of anything but serenity in his voice.

"Really?"

"Yep. There are two main problems." Naruto explained while he reached for the map and calmly turned it around. "First was your holding it upside down." The other girls got sweat drops as they heard him explain this. "Second is this is a map of Kyoto not Kuoh." Everyone facefaulted other than Naruto and Asia, the later just ended up with gloom clouds over her head. "Now this is an easy fix, as I have a map of town in the study, so either I can get it for you and show you where to go." The girl quickly looked up with hope in her eyes. "Or if you want to hang out here for the day I can lead you to the church this afternoon once school is done for the day. Choice is yours Asia-chan."

"Really? You don't mind showing me?" Asia said with wide eyes.

"Of course not, it's what friends do right?" Naruto said easily, causing the girl to get teary eyed smile while she looked at the boy. "Besides if you stick around you can keep Hikari out of trouble, and I'm sure she'd enjoy the company since we still need to find a spell so she can go out in public."

Asia looked back at the hopeful look on Hikari's face and couldn't help her smile grow larger. "I'll gladly wait here if you don't min…" She did get to finish when she was slammed into by a purple hair missile.

"So that's what that looks like from the outside." Naruto remarked with amusement as he saw the two girls fall to the floor, his half snake sister on top of the blonde-haired nun. "It's pretty funny when you're not the one hitting the ground."

* * *

Naruto sighed as he leaned against one of the trees that surrounded the line markings of Kuoh school grounds. While school was just about to let out for lunch, the blonde boy had slipped out of class a bit early so he could get some time alone. Rias had made it a point to try and be seen with him as much as she could, often calling in aid from Yuto and Akeno to try and make him part of the 'popular' group. He'd only been caught off guard twice before, and had been lucky enough to find an exit before too many people saw him with them.

With his training in his past abilities going on almost every day, his stealth was rising in time with his attack strength, making it harder for them to catch him, let alone keep him. This of course made Rias just more determined to get him seen with them, hoping to make him part of their group in school as well as in their off time.

Naruto released a slight chuckle when he thought of how ironic it was that he now had two girls in on the same bet. Both Koneko and Rias had bets on trying to catch him when he was trying to disappear. The bets were slightly altered of course. Rias was for school and restricted; if she could catch him while he was at school, she could keep him by her side as long as she wanted. If she couldn't, she would relent when he didn't want to tell her where he was or is. He wasn't allowed to leave the school grounds as long as school was in session and she couldn't use others beyond the ORC group to hunt for him. The game was fun for him, but sometimes got a little annoying. It only got worse when he beat her in chess as a way to get a day off from being chased.

Koneko's bet was completely different in its level and worth. It was only restricted to when he decided to disappear. His home, the school and the ORC room were the only safe havens. If she ever caught him when he used his stealth to disappear on the group, until the time that he made it back to one of those places; at which point he texted her, then he would have to answer any and all questions she had with complete disclosure. His task was to find out her original name without asking anyone in the Peerage, if he did she had to explain her past completely. Although she explained that she didn't acknowledge the name as hers, she was ok with him knowing it simply because he refused to call anyone by their name once he decided on a nickname for them.

"You're Kitten, nothing more nothing less. Until I am dead and buried you'll always be Kitten." Were his exact words when she asked him not to use her original name when he found it out; which she didn't doubt he would.

Naruto was knocked from his musing when he heard the sound of perverted giggles coming from nearby. Curious about what could be causing the sound on school ground, as he was pretty sure he knew who it was, he headed towards the noise. The more he walked, the narrower his eyes got. He was coming disturbingly close to the back of the girl's change room.

"This is heaven, Motohama. I'm so glad you found this hole." Naruto heard as he made his way towards them, fully intent on calling them out on their perversion one he was in range to prevent them from running.

"Shhh you guys, they'll hear us. Oh my god, it's the school mascot, Toujou Koneko, and she's getting undressed." He heard from who he knew to be Hyodo Issei.

Naruto's narrowed eyebrow started to twitch violently. He warned the three to stay away from her and his other friends. Moving silently up behind them, he grabbed the heads of the bold and glasses wearing perverts and knocked them together, effectively knocking the two boys out. "Oh man, I'm finally going to see if the carpet is as white as her drapes." Issei said with lust dripping from his voice, only to have a hand laid heavily on his shoulder, pulling him away from the hole. "Hey what gives man…" When the brown haired pervert turned to look at the source that was stopping his peeping, he looked up only to meet a large speeding fist to the fast.

When Koneko and her gym class exited the change room to go to lunch, they were treated to a sight that left many both laughing and blushing. Hanging before them next to the flagpole were the infamous 'Perverted Trio'; the three were attached to a metal bar by the loops of their pants, and were unconscious from the looks of them. Strung between them was a large, easy to read sign that stated why they were hung up as they were. 'We were caught peeping on Koneko and got what we deserved.'

The reason many blushed is they were as naked as Koneko was in the change room. Some at the same time as the girl so they knew they had been seen too, though whoever did this odiously didn't look to see who else was seen.

"I wonder who did this?" one of her classmates asked aloud what many thought.

"Seems someone doesn't want our mascot being peeped on." Another girl said with a giggle. "A secret admirer maybe?" She added on teasingly, hoping to get a reaction for the seemingly emotionless teen.

"Either way it works out well for us. As long as they are watching out for Koneko, we are safe from the perverts as well." A voice sounded, getting nods and sounds of approval from the rest of the group.

Koneko however didn't say anything as she knew who it was that had caught the trio. His smell was all over the area, and he had warned not only them but also many others that this would happen. Now that she thought about it they were hung around the height of a flag would fly on a flagpole, as well as there being mats around the ground and wall in case they fell. As far as retaliation went, this would be humiliating but not painful or deadly, a perfect return for them trying to humiliate the girls they were peeping on.

"You know, when he said he'd hang them from a flagpole I didn't think he'd really hang them up like they were a flag." The other blonde boy from the occult research club said as he walked up beside his white haired friend.

"Ufufuf, our little Ghost seems to take his threats to people very seriously." Akeno announced her presence by adding to Yuto's comment on Naruto's work.

"Deserve it." The smallest said while not looking back at the two.

"At least he took precautions as to only hurt their pride." The princely Knight said as he looked at the mats. Seeing many of the girls look at him oddly for his worry over the three's health, Yuto quickly added to his statement. "I wouldn't want the perpetrator of this prank expelled for defending your girls honor. Would you?" They all quickly agreed with his thoughts as it would be bad for something to happen to their 'protector'.

"Kiba-kun, did you do this?" One of the girls asked, hoping that their charming prince was also a knight in shining armor.

Yuto smiled charmingly but shook his head negatively. "I'm sorry to say it wasn't me, I just got out of class and I doubt I'm strong enough to have gotten all three of them up there by myself."

Akeno just continued to giggle at the sight while she scanned the crowd for any signs for whom she knew to be the mastermind behind this punishment. However, instead of the boy she was looking for, she found sight of familiar red hair. "Oh Buchou, have you come to see our newest attraction?"

"In a manner of speaking." Rias said as she came to stand beside her best friend. "How he managed to do this so quickly is beyond me." The young devil said as she looked at the way they had been tied, raised, the mats set out and extra wires tied in place to prevent anyone from being hurt. It was all done in the time it took for the class to change and be let out, which couldn't have been longer than ten minutes.

"Ara ara; Ghosty-kun is Ghosty-kun, Buchou. You know as well as the rest of us that he defies expectations." Akeno said quietly to prevent others from hearing. While she was happy he was taking a more active role in school and wanted him to be closer to them as much as Rias did; this kind of attention would only cause him trouble.

"Speaking of which, any signs of him?" Rias asked the rest of her Peerage.

"His smell is here, but otherwise no." Koneko said, her eyes not off the sign that hung with the boys, trying to make out something.

"What are you looking at Koneko-chan" Yuto questioned noticing her attention was intently on the hanging boys.

"His smell is coming from the sign." The girl replied quietly, "But I also smell blood."

This got them all to focus on the white haired girl intently. "Blood?"

Koneko nodded slowly, her eyes never leaving the sign. "Coming from the sign."

Quickly looking the boys over from the ground, they all saw that while having large bruises from being knocked out, none where bleeding, which only confused the rest of the group. None of them doubted her nose and so knew she was smelling blood, the question was where and why. Until Rias eyes widened as realization struck her.

"He mixed it in his ink." Rias whispered aloud. "He knows Koneko's nose, so what better way to throw us off his trail than distract us after leaving something like this to let us know where he was."

Yuto groaned quietly when he realized Rias was right. "Ara, but if he was trying to avoid us why make such a display?" Akeno asked.

"Said he would." Koneko stated, finally looking away from the prank victims.

Yuto nodded with Koneko's statement "And he never goes back on his word." The blonde boy looked over the perverted trio's predicament once more before adding "You sure he's not a ninja Buchou, cause this trap looks…"

"I know what you mean, but I can't find anything that shows if he is or not." The girl said shaking her head.

"Because if he is one, finding him is going to be a major undertaking." Yuto said while they all started to walk away to look for the last of their numbers in the school yard. None of them noticed a small puff of smoke that appeared around the corner of the building that was blown away in the gentle breeze.

* * *

Naruto released a sigh of contentment as he relaxed into one of the couches in the ORC room. He'd slipped out of class early, leaving a Shadow Clone; his new favorite Jutsu, to cover for him while he set about to read the books on transformation magic Rias had been getting for Hikari and him.

The Shadow Clones were great for learning, spying and confusing people. They also made an excellent tool for Chakra training; which he abused to hell and back, because of the memory transfer aspect. He did discover one flaw in them however: as they were Chakra constructs, none of his other abilities could be used by them. This meant that Magic training and learning to control his black fire had to be done by himself, as well as his physical training. He'd also discovered that his 'Rook' traits didn't transfer either meaning they were far easier to damage than he was.

So far the only other person to know about his clones was Hikari, as once he could make one that lasted longer than an hour he would often leave one to talk with her while he was in school. They wouldn't do much other then talk while his clones studied alchemy or worked on seals, but he felt it was better than leaving her alone all day.

His study of magic had taken a major turn from his original goals. He still studied dimensional magic, as he still had the goal to one day travel and visit Kurama as he promised. However he was also studying transformation magic so that he'd be able to give Hikari a set of legs so she could come to school. He'd even started tutoring her in subjects he could; and getting the others to help her with things he wasn't as good at, though as soon as he could both afford it and find them, he was planning to hire private tutors to catch her up with the rest of her age group, if not Koneko's grade so she could know someone in class.

Magic use was much harder for him than the others. As he was not a devil, his magic was harder grasp and much thicker; reminded him of how his Chakra felt. He also had to separate it from the black fire; which had a habit of feeding on everything, before he could use it for any spells. He'd already caused the teleportation circle in the club room to blow up three times because of how strong his magic is; Rias was both annoyed and impressed by this. Though she and everyone else was truly frightened the first time his flames escaped into the circle, they fed off the magic in it as well as started trying to remake the circle into a summoning circle for 'something'.

Rias and he completely destroyed the circle before the flames completed it, not wanting to find out what it was going to summon. The fire was both easy and hard to use; he could easily summon the flames to any part of his body that he desired, it instantly would start to strengthen his body in the area it was summoned, allowing him to move faster, hit harder and take more damage. This did cause him a lot of strain, as apparently the Evil Pawns in him were holding back a lot of the flames power; the fire also fed on anything it came in contact with, energy, matter, even Rias's power of destruction was consumed by his flames.

The worst part of them was for others, they could be fed by emotions as well, meaning as the flames grow in power everyone else would start feeling less, and as if they were being hollowed out. He'd realized why they were called Void flames, as all they left in their wake was a void. As he was the source he had control of them, but the more flames there were, the harder they were to control.

His thoughts came to a halt as the door to the club room opened, revealing the youngest member. "Afternoon Kitten."

He wasn't answered so much with words as rather the little white haired girl simply walked over to him and climbed into his lap, before doing something he wasn't expecting. Koneko leaned completely into his chest, using him as a back rest rather than just a seat. They stayed like this for a couple of minutes before the girl finally voiced out some words. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"The Perverts."

"Warned them not to try anything."

"I know." The girl nuzzled into him a bit more as they sat in silence waiting for the others to arrive. "How?"

"Which, finding them or hanging them?" Naruto asked in return while his eyes returned to his book.

"Hanging."

Naruto allowed a small smirk to form on his face. "I'm Ninja like that." Koneko's eyes shot open as she looked up at him before she saw his smirk. Turning her thoughts inwards to his emotions she could only feel amusement, which left her questioning if he was hinting at something or just joking around.

Narrowing her eyes slightly, a small frown on her face she started to poke him, letting him know that; while not mad, she didn't enjoy being made fun of. "Baka."

Naruto's smirk didn't fade at all as he continued to read, allowing his other hand to fall on to the girls head and start petting her hair as he knew she loved. This act stopped her poking as she started to drift off into a daze, a small purr could just be heard throughout the otherwise silent room.

As they both sat there waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, while Naruto did have to get home early so he could take his house guest to the church, he also had to make a good showing for being part of their 'club'. On the bright side, this kept some of the more invested teachers off his back about his lack of social interaction. ' _I swear some teachers just look for reasons to interfere with students' lives._ ' he thought sarcastically.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to figure out how you two always beat me here." The voice of the only other male of his group said as he walked through the doorway. His confused determination was clear in his voice, his confusion stemmed from the fact that he was sure he'd left class before Naruto this time, yet the other blonde still beat him here.

"I'm sure you will, Bunny boy, but for now I'm going to enjoy your confusion." Naruto said with a light grin. He hadn't stopped petting Koneko's head so the girl was beyond being able to speak to either boy at this point, simply enjoying the pampering.

"Bunny boy?" Yuto asked, completely confused at the new nickname.

"Yep, read some fairy tales. Once you get to what it means, you'll get what you're missing." Naruto said, fiddling with his book to turn the page. Yuto, seeing his trouble stepped up and turned the page for the other blonde so he wouldn't have to stop petting the white haired girl. "Focus on North American children stories." Naruto added after the Knight turned the page for him, giving him a hint as thanks for his help.

"Would it not be faster and easier to simply tell me?" Yuto asked as he sat in the couch across from the two.

"It would, however it would also defeat the purpose. How could you enjoy a book or a movie if you just skip to the end?" Naruto countered.

"Ara ara, Ghosty-kun you'll start to sound like an old man if you keep talking like that." Akeno said as she silently entered the room. While she was getting better at creeping around, she had yet to get the drop on the ninja in retraining.

Naruto just gave the black haired girl a knowing grin in response, while he stopped his petting of the cat themed girl. He'd timed it perfectly that once Koneko shook off her daze, their red haired club president entered the room. Akeno had to twitch this time, knowing she'd been beaten at their game. He'd gotten under her skin without a word and she couldn't say anything to tease him or Koneko more as Rias had walked in to start the meeting. "This round to you, Blondie." she muttered before heading over to Rias.

Rias could only snort lightly as she caught the four once again in their games, ones she was now in on. This was something she was very happy about, after the rough start. Even with Naruto forgiving her for how their relationship came about, she was finally getting closer to her new Rook. While she wasn't in constant contact with him like Koneko was; she didn't have the empathic gift the younger girl did, she was now getting a much more open responses and positive reactions to her contact with him.

"You know Naruto-kun, if you didn't show up every day, I'd start to think you didn't like us with how you avoid us at school." Rias said, a teasing tone in her voice.

"I wouldn't avoid you so much if you didn't have the whole school watching your every move Red." Naruto instantly countered. "We've covered this, I don't deal with people well."

"Well you're going to have to start Naru. Doing Devil requests, the better you're known the more you'll be called."

"Naru?" The boy asked, completely ignoring the rest of the statement.

"I need to find something shorter to call you."

"Fair enough." The boy nodded. "I imagine 'slippery blonde bastard' gets annoying to say after awhile." The two girls that had often referred to him by that title blushed that he knew what they called him.

Yuto on the other hand shrugged. "You damn well are one."

"Whatever you say, bunny boy."

"Bunny boy?" All the girls asked at once, Rias and Koneko with confusion, Akeno with amusement.

"I'll explain after he figures it out." Naruto said with a smirk. Yuto just groaned again. He knew his fellow blonde well enough to know he'd only be called this new mocker outside of public, however he was going to be called it a lot unless he started to figure it out. The larger blonde always seem to come up with weird and unusual ways to tell people things. The really odd thing about it was it always was the most effective way of telling them so they remembered.

The reason he had to groan about this was, although he really didn't care about his nickname; as it was by far not the most insulting thing he was being called, now that Rias and Akeno knew they'd hound him to figure it out so that Naruto would explain it. A very clever way for the other boy to ensure he'd look for an answer.

"That aside for now, have you managed to get the teleportation spell down?" Rias asked, clearing away the attention Yuto's newest nickname had gathered.

"I'm pretty sure I have. Well more like I had to remake it so it'd work for me." Naruto said as he moved Koneko off his lap to her feet; much to her displeasure, and stood up. "The spell circle itself was the problem from what I've been able to work out." As he was talking, he started to his teleportation spell.

"The circle?" Akeno asked, as she was more proficient in different forms of magic.

"My magic is too potent to be spread across a circle that large without over loading the casting matrix. So I had to make a more condensed version that, after casting, would take up a larger area to teleport people." As he finished explaining, a circle shot out from under his feet and spread to everyone in the room. The second everyone was inside, the room flashed black before light returned and they now stood in the back yard of his house.

Yuto, who was the only one still sitting when it went off, landed on his rear against the cobblestone walkway. The glare he now had pointed at the other boy would have frozen lava in a heartbeat, if only Naruto had been looking at him instead of continuing to talk with Rias. "As you can see, the spell time itself is fast. However, cast time is very much lagging, but it's the best I have for now until I can farther my studies into dimensional magic."

"Amazing, was that a dimensional teleportation spell?" Rias asked.

"Yes, as I said your spell circle wouldn't have worked with my magic. Surprisingly my magic is very well suited for my chosen field of magic." Naruto explained, happy that he'd chosen well for his field of magic.

"What did you mean casting time was slow, it didn't seem that long?" Akeno asked as the all started heading into the house proper.

"Well I had to filter my magic away from my flames before any of you made it to the club room, then it took from the moment Rias asked about the spell till the flash for me to cast it. I can't move while casting otherwise I'd lose my lock on where I want to send us, and if my focus varies for even a moment I could end up lost in the dimensional gap with anyone coming with me." Naruto explained the problems with his beginner spell. "I'm positive I can fix all of these problems with time, and if I wasn't splitting my focus so much but for now this will work."

Rias looked both impressed with his progress and worried for him with the many problems he explained for his spell, but Akeno was very impressed. "That is very amazing for someone who a week ago couldn't even grasp his magic at all."

"Getting my Magic away from my flames with no idea where to start is very different than reworking already existing spells to work a bit differently while keeping the same results." Naruto said, waving off the praise. "HABI-IMOUTO! WE'RE HOME!" The boy shouted after sticking his head in the door.

"NII-SAN/NAUTO-SAN" Two yells answered back from the living room, followed quickly by running feet. Naruto was expecting to be bowled over by the two only to watch in amusement as both somehow tripped in the doorway and landed face first in the floor directly at the feet of the entering group.

"What have I told you about running in the house?" Naruto asked, holding back his desire to laugh at how the two looked.

"Sorry." The two said at the same time, their voices muffled by them still face down at his feet.

Rolling his eyes, he leaned down and helped both girls too their feet, still wondering internally how a snake girl could trip so much when she doesn't have feet to trip over. "I wonder if I should call a vet to see if you have an inner ear disorder with how much to trip."

"Muuu so mean Nii-san." Hikari said with a pout on her lips, knowing that although he treated her like family he often made jokes about them both needing vets instead of doctors. "Nee-chans, Nii-san's being mean."

Akeno and Rias could only giggle, which only got worse when the young Lamia threw herself into Koneko's arms and started to fake crying. That ended quickly when Naruto asked her if she remembered to do the dishes which made her try to hide behind the smallest girl, which failed badly due to her tail.

Shaking his head, Naruto started walking into the house. "Can I assume you didn't make a real lunch?" Hearing her little 'teehee', the blonde kept making his way towards the kitchen. "Asia we can head out after I make a quick meal for everyone, sorry for the delay."

"Oh no, I don't mind." The blonde girl said with a smile. "I can wait for you by the door if you like."

"No, you can sit at the table with everyone else and eat. The meal is for you as well Goldie." Naruto said as he disappeared.

"Goldie?" The little nun asked in confusion.

Akeno and Hikari giggled while Yuto just shook his head, the three leading the way to the dining room. Rias however gave a rueful smile and laid her hand on the nun's shoulder "You'll get used to it; he's given all of us nicknames. It is just his way of showing that he likes you, sort of."

"Ano, umm what does he call you?" Asia asked shyly.

Rias held out a lock of her hair giving it a deadpan stare. "Red." Asia started to giggle a bit. "Everyone at school calls him Ghost, so if it bothers you just call him that."

"Oh no, it doesn't bother me, it's nice to know he cares about us enough that he wants to call us something more personal than our given name." She said with a large smile, one that spread to Rias's face when she started to look at it like that. She always did want people to see her more than as Heir Gremory, or the little sister of Lucifer: Rias Gremory. With Naruto she was just 'Red'. It was as refreshing as it was annoying that she didn't have a name, only a colour. ' _Yeah he's weird._ '

"I NEVER CLAIMED TO BE NORMAL!" Naruto's voice yelled out surprising the two. The girls gave each 'WTF?' looks before staring back at the kitchen door.

"I have no idea where that came from but I think we should just ignore it." Rias said to the blonde girl who nodded then started toward the dining room.

"NII-SAN IT'S A GOOD THING YOU CAN COOK, 'CAUSE YOU ARE TOTALLY INSANE!"

"SO?"

"I WANT TO BE AN AUNT! STOP ACTING STUPID AND GET A GIRLFRIEND!"

"You're both nuts." Koneko's quiet voice cut them both off as they entered. Akeno could be seen laughing so hard at the two she was holding her sides and Yuto had a blush on his face. Apparently the two had missed much of the conversation, leaving them confused and staring at the four before them and the closed door of the kitchen.

"Do we want to know?" Was all Rias could ask.

* * *

Naruto rapped lightly on the door to an apartment he'd never seen before. This was on a devil request, something that was rather new to him still. He may have done a hand full on his own but he found them rather boring so far: cooking meals, taking care of children, and cleaning apartments was not what he had expected to be doing when he thought about doing devil jobs.

Hell, most of them didn't even require him to use magic or chakra to get the jobs done, though for cleaning jobs he often spammed his Shadow Clones the second the client was out of sight. He'd been able to get all his clients to sign off on their contracts so far, a few even gave him a slight bonus for being able to get the work done in record breaking time, or he'd done extra. When taking care of kids, he'd get sometimes cook and clean up for the client, or he'd add a bit of flare when he was cooking meals to keep the children entertained.

If he was dealing with single business women, he'd cook for them, clean up their apartment and get them talking about their problems. His mask personality was very good at putting people at ease. Oddly it was starting to show signs of becoming like he remember his ninja self to be like, if more socially aware.

"Nyo…?"

Naruto jerked from his thoughts when the door opened and a deep voice resonated from within the apartment. As the door opened, Naruto was forced to blink several times to ensure he wasn't imagining what he was seeing. Before him had to be the ugliest man he'd ever laid eyes on. He stood around six foot six, he had at least a six inches on Naruto across the chest, his eyes were bugged out and his nose looked like it had been compressed into his face so badly, the tip was flattened. He was also wearing a magical girl costume he'd seen on a show Hikari watched, including wig and female panties. "Welcome Nyo." The man said his voice deep even as it appeared he was trying to talk like a girl. "I've waited for so long Nyo~"

Suppressing a real shudder at the man's look; a very disturbing cross between lust and obsession, Naruto locked eyes with his client. "What is your wish?" The blonde was even impressed with himself at his lack of stutter.

"I want you to turn Miru-tan into a Magical Girl Nyo~"

"Excuse me?"

"I've been to another world but no one has the ability to give Miru-tan magical powers…" The large man brought a clenched fist up to his chest and started shaking it. "At this point, as a last resort, I can't help but make a wish of my enemies, The Devils!"

Naruto couldn't help but face palm while releasing a quiet groan. ' _I just had to think that all these requests were too easy._ ' Lightly putting his hand on 'Miru-tan's' shoulder, he softly started to push the man inside his apartment. "Of course you couldn't have an easy request like a costume that actually fit." Naruto said while he stepped into the disturbed man's home. "If we are going to discuss this, put on real clothes. I don't let my little sister run around in clothes like that, like hell I'm talking to a grown man in those things."

The large man blinked happily before spinning around to the blonde youth walking into his residence. "You can give Miru-tan magical powers?"

"We will discuss it, but if you try hugging me, deal's off and I'm gone." The boy said once he saw the man's look. "Now go put something on damn it!" The large man got an even larger grin before running off to his room. "This is NOT going to be a fun conversation." Naruto sigh before pulling on his transformation magic book and flipping to the pages on human transformations. "Though if I can pull the girl transformation part off, maybe I'll try setting him up with Hyodo, that would be good for a laugh." An evil grin made its way to his face at that thought.

"I'm back, Devil-san Nyo~" Naruto bit back a groan when the man continued to talk in that disturbing tone, however at least he was wearing something more reasonable; long gray sweat pants and a tank top shirt.

"That'll do. Now, regarding your wish." Naruto said in a completely business tone, no apprehension or non-sense. "To do as you asked instantly is impossible at the moment."

"Mmmuu, why did you get Miru-tan's hope up if you can't do it?" The man cried while jumping to his feet, upset with the blonde.

The slitted eyed boy however didn't back down, his glare making the larger man freeze in his tracks. "Sit down Miru-san." The large man fell back into his seat under the glare. "I'm not a man who has time to waste. I'd much rather be at home taking care of my baby sister, so if I simply could not fulfill your wish I would have left."

"Sorry Nyo~"

"Good, now as I was saying, we will have to do this in stages, as well as you'll need to work up in Magical power in order to use it once I've found the correct formula." Naruto explained while he pulled out a note book and started writing out notes on what would need to be done as well as a time table for the changes. "You are actually very lucky that you got me with this summons, Miru-san. I've spent most of my magical studies since my change looking into such magic to give my sister legs."

The large man's eyes opened wide again at this declaration. "Why would you do that? Miru-tan thought all Devils would only think of themselves."

"Devils are not as evil as most are lead to believe, it's simply a different race than humans, with different moral standards and values. One of the many common beliefs shared is the value of family and loved ones. There are also many laws that were set in place to protect humans and hide us so that we can enjoy the peace we all share now." Naruto said as he finished writing up his note, before handing it over to the large man. "Now this is what it would take for me to fulfill you desire, it's neither easy nor will it be fast. I've also included costs and requirements for each stage. All payments are made at the end of each stage, this way I don't get paid beforehand but I'm not doing everything for free till the end and you get to see what you're paying for as we go."

The man looked over the notes, wide-eyed at the final cost. However as he looked at each stage and all the notes Naruto had written out he nodded. "Is very expensive but you explained why Nyo~ Miru-tan understands." Reaching over he signed the contract and handed it back to Naruto. "When will Miru-tan hear from you?"

Naruto answered while he started mentally casting his teleportation spell to return to the clubroom as Rias had asked of him."As I've almost finished the first spell for my sister, max a week. However, as explained this spell will be simply to get you used to being a girl, a normal one. Don't want to make it permanent, then you realize it's not what you want right?"

"Okay, thank you Devil-San."

"Very well, I will be in contact." Naruto said as he released his magic to cast his spell and disappeared into a flash of black light, signed contract in hand.

* * *

The club room flashed black for a second before light returned and Naruto with it. "Were humans always this weird and I just never noticed before, or has the change drawn out the weird ones?" The boy asked before anyone could even greet his return.

"I'm betting on a bit of both." Yuto said from his place on one of the couches. Surprisingly it was only him and Rias in the room at the moment. "You're back fast, was it another easy job?"

"Not even close, this one is likely to take a few years to finish." Naruto said as he walked over and handed the contract to a surprised Rias.

"Years?" The girl asked her voice matching Yuto's question in perfect sync. "Magical girl? You're going to change a guy into a magical girl?"

"A GUY?" Yuto asked in shock.

"Yes years, yes a magical girl, and yes a guy." Naruto said tiredly as he walked to the arm chair at the opposite end of the table from Rias's desk, an addition made after his joining the group. "The processes shouldn't be that much different from what I need to do for Hikari so she can go to school. Just add an alchemy potion to make the change permanent instead of temporary."

"Well, I can say you're more determined than I am, I'd have told him it was impossible." Yuto said, Rias nodding in surprising agreement.

Naruto gave the other boy a deadpanned stare. "I'm taking you with me when I have to go back; you see the thing and tell him his desire is impossible. I'll laugh while you then beg him not to eat you." Yuto gave a nervous chuckle, being sure to be sick that day. He didn't care what day it was, he was calling in sick. "Anyway, what do you need Red, I need to get home before Hikari decides she wants to wait up for me. Carrying her up the stairs isn't fun with that tail of hers." His body sliding back into the chair Rias had dubbed his.

Rias snickered at the image of Naruto trying to carry the young Lamia up a set of stairs while trying not to trip over her tail. "I just wanted to tell you that I've been told that some more rogue devils have been spotting coming into our territory, as of yet it's unconfirmed. However we have been told they are human eaters."

Naruto's entire body jolted awake, every trace of his previous exhaustion disappearing while his eyes grew a fierce gleam. A blood red aura seem to start bleeding from him, as even his eyes changed colour to a glowing garnet. Both devils were forced to move back from the pure rage and bloodlust that seemed to seep from every pore of the normally lackluster boy. As quickly as it appeared the aura was gone again, leaving behind only a hard look in the boy's eyes. "When do we go hunting?"

Rias needed a second to recollect herself. This was a side she'd never seen from Naruto before, even while he'd been angry when he'd thought she'd enslaved him, he hadn't released that kind of bloodlust. It scared her, and was kind of comforting, as she knew that even if he was angry she now KNEW he wouldn't have hurt her for what happened. "We are simply waiting for a suppression order so that we can confirm it's in the area. It'd be pointless to go out hunting if we don't know were to start looking."

Naruto nodded slightly. "I'll follow your lead this time, as I only just beat you to the last place. If your way is faster, I'll defer to it from now on, but if I find it before you get your order, I'm killing it my way." His voice and eyes were hard enough that diamonds would seem like putty in comparison.

"You needn't worry, we've been using this method for centuries, and been refining it as it goes to increase it's effectiveness." Rias said, standing tall before the draconic blonde. Yuto couldn't stand the pressure between the two and was creeping back into his seat as much as he could.

Naruto stared at the girl as he slowly stood to his full height, his arctic blue eyes locked onto her aquamarine, looking for even the slightest waver in her belief or resolve. He knew his Chakra was barely being held back from blasting out into his demonic cloak again, and as he could see from Yuto it was affecting them badly. Yet the red haired girl wasn't giving an inch in her belief that she could and would deal with the rogue faster her way. Once he was inches away from her face, his eyes softened and a small grin reached his lips. "Good, can't have my little Red getting afraid of a big bad wolf." With that, the pressure from the room vanished, causing the other two to sigh in relief while Naruto simply made his way to the door. "I'm going home, see you tomorrow."

Rias was just about to ask what he meant about a big bad wolf but a flash of black signaled he'd already left the building. "By Satan, that boy is scary when he wants to be." Yuto whispered out.

"Maybe, but he's never once shown that side directed at us." Rias said with a slight smile on her lips. "Plus, even you have to admit it's good to see he has an emotional side now."

Yuto looked at her oddly "Sure, having emotions is good, but his temper with that much power? That wasn't his Magic Buchou, and his flames are always black and make you feel hollow. What was that power?"

"Chakra."

Rias and Yuto both looked up to see Koneko walking in through the doorway, her stance calm but her eyes narrowed and face slightly down in deep thought. "Chakra?" the redhead asked.

"Hai, Odd Chakra but still Chakra."

"Odd in what way?" Rias asked hoping to get some sort of explanation from the little Rook.

Koneko disappointed her though by shrugging. "Feels thick. Promised to explain when I catch him."

Rias eyes widened "That's your bet with him?" Koneko nodded. "How does he win?"

"Learn my old name."

Rias blinked at that. "You don't mind him knowing that?"

"I am Kitten, you are Red, he won't call me Shirone. Only Kitten." Koneko said

"Well, I guess we'll have to start helping you…"

"No." The white Rook said, cutting off her King; earning a look of surprise from the other two. "My hunt, you help I lose."

Yuto grimaced "Though I'm surprised by the fast reply, she's right Buchou. If we interfere, Naruto will know and the bet will stop. Honestly, I would be surprised if he didn't already take into account us trying to interfere with it and have counters in place."

Rias dropped into the couch next to him, sagged into it, causing a small cloud of what appeared to be dust to puff from the cushion. "It would be something he'd do, isn't it." Rias eyes watched the cloud dissipate into air with a tired look. "When the rogue is dealt with, remind me to get this place cleaned, okay?"

"Hai Buchou." Both said.

Before anything more could be said, Koneko's cell phone went off playing 'Paint it Black', the Gob cover. Koneko had a slight blush when they stared at her. "It's Naruto" she said while pulling out the phone to see what the text said.

Yuto snickered a bit at the choice of songs. "I have his tone as 'When You're Evil' by Voltarie. I thought it was funny." Rias giggled when she heard that. Both had stop talking and look up when Koneko swore lightly, looking back they were surprised to see she'd broken her phone by crushing it in her hand. "What happened?" The boy asked slightly worried when he saw what she had done.

"He found out." The girl said with a sigh that she needed a new phone now.

"What that we planned on help you?" Rias asked in shock.

"No" the girl said before looking at them. "His text was 'At home Kitten, but Shirone does match your hair nicely.'"

"Okay 'what the hell is he?' just doesn't seem to express my feeling right at the moment." Yuto said with a flat look on his face. "I'm done; I'm going home to bed. Thinking about him any more is just going to make my headache worse."

Rias sighed, "That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day." Koneko nodded with her as the boy left. "Are you heading to your apartment tonight?"

"Yes, will talk with him tomorrow." Koneko said with an undertone of exasperation in her voice.

"Then good night Koneko-chan."

"Night Buchou."

* * *

Naruto's eyes shot open with an almost silent gasp, awakened by another nightmare from his 'childhood'. Looking around, he was fully aware of his surroundings like always when he awoke like this. Rias and Akeno snuggled into his chest like normal, when it became normal for him to wake up next to naked women he didn't know. ' _I swear even while not here Uncle Az is corrupting me._ " He thought while switching himself with a body pillow so he could get up and dressed, well aware that he wouldn't be going back to sleep tonight.

Grabbing a set of running pants and a tee shirt, the reborn blonde ninja slipped from his house and started walking the streets, hoping to clear his head. It was close to 1 in the morning with the full moon casting an ethereal glow across the ground and eerie shadows from the buildings, making the night look like a silver toned monochromatic painting. Channeling a small amount of his chakra into his eyes; causing them to bleed into a glowing garnet, Naruto took in the sight of the thousands of different energies that consumed the city.

It was a beautiful yet chaotic kaleidoscope of colours, he could only marvel at the colours while he relaxed from the feeling of being able to blend in with the energies. It was comforting to allow the energies to blanket him, as if he was part of a greater whole rather than a lost and alone entity tripped on the wrong side of a dimensional barrier.

His walk took him to a park near the middle of town, one he'd been in to help clean quite a few times. He'd never spent much time in it to relax, as most times he was here it was filled with couples relaxing on dates or people exercising by running through it. Now that he was alone here, he could see the true splendor of the quiet setting. The trees and small shrubs surround the walkways and benches, giving an almost private feeling even if in a public place; while the fountain in the center of it all was eye-catching enough that most would focus on it instead of those around it.

He was just starting to feel the stress and adrenaline flow away from his tense body when he saw a disturbance heading his way at a quick pace. From the looks of the energies, one looked to be a very weak devil, the other looked like a form of twisted light. The light was above and slightly behind the devil, almost mockingly chasing it. Curios and slightly bored, Naruto made his way the where they were coming from, being sure to stay out of sight but ready to act just in case.

* * *

Issei Hyodo was not having a good day. While he did get given a chance to start building his dream harem, it came at the cost of his humanity. Normally that wouldn't have bothered him, as he was always ready to sell his soul for his dream, but he was told afterwards by his new master his first task would be to clean up his reputation.

That would have been a difficult task in itself, however what made it worse was on his last time peeking with his two friends he'd been caught and knocked out. He hadn't even seen who it was that did it, only to wake up hanging from a metal bar being glared at by his new king and the rest of the student council; he'd been punished by 1000 spanks for that.

After finally being let out, he'd gone with his friends to watch a new ecchi they found, but as his rear was so sore he couldn't enjoy it and had to leave. Which lead to his current predicament, he was being chased by someone that give made his skin crawl just looking at him. "After running this far… *huff huff*."

"You thought I'd let you run away?" Came the voice of his stalker, Issei whipped around to look up at the man that had chased him. The man was close to 5' 11" with dark purple hair reaching just above his shoulders that had an off-black fedora covering most of it. A long gray coat, matching pants and white suit-type shirt gave off a crime movie detective look; only for that look to be thrown away by the two large black feathered wings coming from the man's back while he floated 4 feet off the ground. "Tell me your Masters name… or… are you a 'Stray'?"

Issei tried to take a step back from the insane gleam that came from the man's eyes, even as he wasn't given a chance to reply while the man kept up his innate monologue. "I don't detect any trace of your Master, so you must be 'Stray'. In that case..." The man's hand fell out to the side as an almost dirty looking blue light started to form in the palm. "Killing you won't be a problem." Pure disturbed glee completely took over his tone as he said this, while a spear of light formed in his outstretched hand.

Issei turned his back to run, already knowing his wouldn't make it, and he could feel hopelessness settling into his stomach from the second the man started to talk about Strays. However he was surprised when he'd made if a foot away only to hear a loud crash of someone smashing into a park bench. Chancing a look back, he was completely caught off guard at the site of one of his classmates standing over the fallen black winged man, his right arm burning with black fire, his left oozing a bubbling red energy. Blonde hair whipped wildly in chaotic winds that seem to form at the teen's feet and flow upwards, while he glared down at the man. "Who the hell are you? Why are you defending this Stray?"

"'Cause the perv is an idiot, not a Stray moron." Naruto declared, ignoring the 'Oie' for said pervert while he looked down at the Fallen. "What the fuck is a deranged Fallen Angel doing in Gremory territory?"

"What's it to you, Yokai? You're not a devil, so you should know you pla… WAHHHHHH!" The Fallen angel start to stand, another attack building in his hand only for Naruto to grab his face with his bubbling left hand and lifted him off the ground. Issei could hear a hissing noise from the man's face while steam rose from between the body figures.

"Seems you're as much an idiot as you are insane." Naruto said coldly, while he glared at the man. "Disappear, next time I see you try this I'll drag you into oblivion myself." Naruto throw the man into the air, his red eyes glowing with unseen power.

"I am Dohnaseek, and next time we meet I will end you Beast." The fallen yelled out angrily, one of his hands covering his burnt face. Naruto didn't reply with word, simply allowed his Chakra and flames to grow larger while he glared up at the ranting man. Seeing the power the boy was releasing rising rapidly, the fallen angel quickly left, swearing vengeance under his breath the whole time.

Seeing they were alone once again, Naruto pulled his power back inside himself once more, knowing he wasn't lucky enough for his show to go unnoticed and they wouldn't be alone for long. "That was AWESOME! How'd you do that? Who are you? My name's Hyodo Is…"

"Shut up and go back to Sitri perv." Naruto said grumpily, he was not happy defending the pervert that he'd hung up like a flag just yesterday.

"What the hell man? I'm just saying thanks." Issei yelled out in shock.

"And I'm telling you to go back to your king before I decide to hang you from another flag pole." Naruto said back in a cold angry tone though he was more just annoyed rather than angry.

"THAT WAS YOU!?"

"Keep your voice down moron, it's almost 2 in the morning."

"I'd advise you to listen to Uzumaki-san Hyodo-san." a cold monotone voice said as the black haired, pink eyed student council president came into view. "I thank you for protecting my Pawn Uzumaki-san."

Naruto looked over at the girl, his garnet eyes picking up her as well as the rest of Peerage's energies, and although it was faint he could see Koneko's energies on a fast approach. "It's fine water sprite. Just keep your pet perv in line, this time he got off with a warning. Next time he tries peeping on Kitten or any of my friends, I won't let him off lightly."

"T-t-t-that was l-l-light?" Issei said. Hanging there had scared him senseless, and considering the power this blonde just displayed, he was worried what would happen to him.

"I will, but know that I don't take kindly to threats on my servants." Sona said back in a dangerous tone.

Naruto snorted before looking the girl in the eye, applying the same pressure he had to Rias earlier, while taking a step forward. Sona instinctively took a step back unaware that she'd just lost any hope she had of earning Naruto's respect as an equal. Naruto snorted in disdain at the display she was trying to show. "I am simply protecting my family, girl. He is a threat to their happiness, I am replying in kind." Naruto spoke with authority as he walked towards where he saw Koneko's energy coming from, showing a completely disregard that he'd been speaking with a high-class devil. She'd failed his first test therefore would have a lot of work to do to gain any respect from him. Knowing that he'd likely pissed off the others that worked under the girl, Naruto released his wings for all to see, causing gasps to be heard from the trees.

"D-d-dragon?" Was whispered amount them as they realized just who their King was talking to.

Not wanting to deal with the conversation anymore, Naruto let his black flame aura out slightly, causing the empty feelings to affect the group enough to give them pause while he walked away. Koneko's energy was already approaching the park and he wanted to talk to his Kitten, as he now had even more adrenaline to calm down from.

* * *

Koneko had been sitting in her apartment, much of which she had started to pack up for moving into Naruto's house. While she did like the privacy of her own place, having only a small bachelor's apartment was confining. With the small amount she could make off devil requests, this was the best she could afford, and while Rias did provide for all of her needs; such as clothing and food, she had decided to live away from the old school house that Rias lived in.

When Naruto had bought his new house, having opted for a place with everyone from the ORC in mind, she had been flattered and couldn't bring herself to turn down the offer. She had originally only intended to stay once in awhile, until she'd seen the house. The second she saw that the bedroom she was offered was three quarters the size of her whole apartment, she'd knew she was moving in. The money she was spending on rent would be going to food for the house, so she wasn't a burden on him; unlike Hikari who had no way to help pay for herself.

Right now she was having second thoughts, he'd found out her name. While she had expected it to happen, she had thought it wouldn't be for a long time to come, giving her time to adjust and prepare for the coming conversation. He was now about to find out everything about her, how she was a Nekoshou, her connection to Senjutsu, why her sister had done what she'd done; everything. She however wasn't even able to find out anything about him other than he was protective of them, and he'd been turned into a dragon through some accident.

She feared how he would react to her. While his reaction to Hikari had been positive, as was his first reaction to her; she had grown quite close to him. He wasn't a pervert; he was protective, strong and quite dominant, almost the perfect mate. If he wasn't so dense when it came to girls liking him and slightly more sane at times, he would be perfect; something that Akeno and Rias both seem to think as well.

Since she had returned to her apartment that night, she'd been debating with herself on what she was going to do. His dispassion had been what had lead to her being close to him at the start; forcing him out of his mask. However being in close proximity to him, and constantly feeling what he felt allowed her to feel firsthand how deeply alone he felt. The deep seeded sadness and fear, as well as the determination to move forward, willpower to face forward and deal with what came his way. The feeling drew her to him, and as time passed she started to feel his caring for them, and his draconic possessiveness about keeping them near him and happy.

She was also likely the only person that knew this, but Naruto was feeling love for them. Not even he knew it, and it was so deeply buried under whatever it was that burdened him that he wasn't likely to realize it for a long time to come but it was there. She also realized that she had started to share those feelings for him, however with Rias and Akeno in the running she wasn't sure how she could compete.

With all of this on her plate, she hadn't been able to even close her eyes to rest, fear of rejection and abandonment weighting heavily on her mind, overriding her common sense that was telling her she was fearful about nothing.

She'd just about given up, thinking of playing video games in hopes of distracting herself, when she felt a wave of familiar energy wash over her. The subject of her inner turmoil was in the park near her home, and he was very displeased about something. Throwing off her apprehension about seeing her now favorite blonde, the girl didn't even bother with her shoes as she rushed out towards the feeling, her speed reaching her upper most limit when the power he was throwing off doubled for a few seconds before coming to a rest.

The sight that greeted her when she reached the park both relieved and unnerved her. Naruto was calmly walking towards her in casual clothes, letting her know he wasn't hurt in any way. However his wings were completely exposed, wisps of black flames trailing up the edges of them, while his eyes glowed a menacing garnet instead of their normal azure blue. Having trained enough with him, she was easily able throw off the hollowing effects of his aura and sense the others in the park behind him. "Are you okay?"

"Yes Kitten, just having a rough night." Naruto said as he walked towards the white haired girl. "Can we get out of here? I'm fairly sure Red's going to lecture me about pissing off her friends already, I don't need it to get any worse."

"What did you do?"

"Saved the dumb pervert from a fallen angel; only to get talked down to by that Sitri girl for telling him off about peeping and warning him again." Naruto explained.

"Sitri? Thought she was 'water sprite'?" Koneko asked, wondering about the other girls loss of nickname.

"She lost my respect when she talked big but flaked when the pressure was up." Naruto said while he allowed the white hair girl to start leading them away from the park. "I told you once I do not bow, but I respect Red cause when push comes to shove; even while fearing the worst, she stood tall and looked me in the eye. For that she has me backing her at any time she desires. Sitri can't back up her talk herself, her Peerage is her power and 'spine' for lack of a better term."

"Sitri-san is strong." Koneko stated, trying to defend her Kings friend.

"In magic, not heart, Kitten." the blonde countered. "You've never backed down from me, Red's only done so out of feelings of guilt, when she felt she wasn't in the wrong she stood her ground. I'm empathic to a degree as well Kitten, I may not understand what is felt but I do know fear, she was scared but didn't waver. Sitri flinched back at the first feelings of fear, ready to run behind her servants, where our King would run in front of them."

Koneko could only nod. He was right; while all her Peerage would gladly walk into danger for her, if Rias was fearful of something she'd be there leading them into a situation rather than let them walk forward first. Hearing this also allowed the white haired cat girl to make her decision on how to deal with her own turmoil; she released her fluffy white ears from her head and a cat tail from her rear. Taking a deep breath she turned to face the boy she whom she was developing feelings for, as ready as she could be for almost any reaction. Key word being almost.

The second he saw her cat like features, and her attempted to bury fear, Naruto went through many expected reactions in his head before settling on one that would best convey his feelings on her 'confession'. "Kawaii!" he whispered out in slight awe before rushing forward at blinding speed, scooped the girl into his arms and started petting her ears while cooing at her cuteness.

Koneko's face was overcome with the deepest blush she'd ever had, and was completely unable to hold back the purr that escaped her from the petting. It took her more than a few minutes before she was able to pull herself back to reality so she could talk to him. "Naruto-kun, purr, Stop, Purr, please, Purr, I need to, purr, talk to, purr, you."

"Oh sorry, Kitten." The boy said, a slight blush on his whiskered cheeks. "You looked so adorable I couldn't resist. I've wanted to meet a Nekomata since I read about them." He admitted while he stopped petting her, but didn't put her back down. "Though now that I have you here, why are in your PJ's and not wearing shoes?"

"Felt your energy, was worried." The cat girl whispered, blush not leaving her face, but made no effort to release herself.

"Point the way, while we talk." Naruto stated while he wrapped his wings around the both of them like a cloak.

Koneko nodded while hugging into his chest a bit, pointing down the road for him to continue their journey. "Nekoshou." Naruto raised an eyebrow at the term but stayed silent. "We're a subspecies of Nekomata's that are stronger and more in tune with Senjutsu then normal Nekomata's."

"Ahh, thank you." Naruto said, glad that she explained that. While he had read up on many Yokai, he hadn't learned them all yet.

Koneko didn't answer right away; rather she just tried to bury herself deeper into the boy's arms. They walked silently for a few minutes while Koneko worked up the nerve to continue talking. "I'm one of the only two left of my species. My sister was very strong in Senjutsu and Youjutsu, but when she used Senjutsu, she went mad from the world's hate and killed her master. The devils feared this would happen more and they started exterminating all Nekomata's they could find. I was to be publicly executed if Buchou's brother hadn't come and brought me to her." Tears were slowly making their way down the poor girl's face while she clung to the blonde carrying her. "I didn't want to be saved, I wanted to die. I didn't want to become like her, and I thought I was better off dead. I wouldn't hurt anymore and wouldn't hurt anyone. Senjutsu comes to us, we don't get to choose. I will start using it too if I'm not careful, but I'm so afraid I'll lose myself to it."

Naruto didn't say anything; he couldn't as he understood her fear completely. All he could was hold her while she cried from old pain that never really healed. As he walked, he thought about what she said "Kitten, how strong do you think you'd be if you used Senjutsu?"

The girl, who's cries had started to slow down at this point, looked up at the boy with red eyes. "Very."

Naruto sighed, "Guess I better start upping my training again if I'm going to be there to stop you then." Koneko blinked in shock at this, not expecting him to simply say he'd stop her if she lost control. Seeing her shocked look, Naruto gave her a smirk. "What kind of a Dragon would I be if I lost my Kitten? I'll always be there for you, all of you. I don't care if I have to beat down God himself, I'll be there. I promise."

Koneko's eyes grew watery again, but a smile clearly blossoming on her face while she heard his declaration. This was far beyond what she had hoped to hear when she was thinking of how to tell him, the most she had hoped for was him saying he didn't care and she was still his friend. Without thinking the cat girl wrapped her arms around his neck and quickly kissed him on the cheek before burying her face in his neck. For a third time, he was left holding a girl while she repeatedly whispered her thanks, and for a third time he was confused on why they were thanking him when he didn't think he did anything. ' _Damned confusing women._ '

Twenty minutes after their talk, Naruto finally noticed Koneko wasn't giving him directions anymore. A quick check confirmed that the girl had fallen asleep in his arms, exhausted from the emotional unloading she had done. This left him with a choice of waking the cute sleeping girl so she could continue telling him where she was leading him or taking her back to his house and putting her in the bed she had there. One look at the surprisingly content smile on her lips was all the evidence he need to make his choice, with that thought and five more minutes of walking he disappeared in a flash of blackness.

* * *

When Koneko awoke the next morning, she was surprisingly warm and feeling very light. She'd had the best night sleep she could ever remember having. She didn't even want to open her eyes yet just snuggled deeper into her pillow, causing it to grunt slightly.

' _Pillows don't grunt._ ' She thought in confusion while her eyes shot open to look upon the sleeping face of her blonde friend. Just as she was about to jump back and punch him, memories from the night before came back to her: the confession of her past, his declaration and promise to her, her kissing him and then nothing. ' _I must have fallen asleep._ ' she realized. Looking around the room she was in, she noticed it was her room from his house. He must have taken them here when he couldn't take her home because he didn't know where to go.

A small smile made its way to her lips as she slid out of his grasp. She had spare clothes here so all she needed was to make it back to her apartment for her shoes, and knowing that Rias slept here more often than not, she could ask her or Akeno to teleport her back for them. ' _Looks like I'll be getting used to the room after all._ ' The white haired cat girl thought, the smile not moving an inch as she made her way to her clothes, then towards the door. She needed a bath, and to make sure Hikari didn't try making breakfast before Naruto or Akeno woke up.

* * *

Rias rubbed her temples, in hopes of alleviating some of the headache she was dealing with, as she walked out of the student council office. When Naruto had said he had a run-in with them last night, she hadn't realized just how much his comment of him being in a 'bad mood' understated his effects on her friend and her friend's peerage.

Then again, she hadn't realized just how strong her new Rook truly was either. While his aura always induced fear in those around it, the true amount of power he commanded with it was never shown. Until yesterday, she hadn't even been aware that he had chakra, never mind that he could command it at will so proficiently.

The beautiful redhead groaned quietly while she considered what to do in this situation. "Oh my Buchou, you seem stressed."

"You could say that Akeno. It seems our dear newest member seems to like understating things far more than we had originally thought."

"Oh?" The ponytailed girl asked as she raised one of her eyebrows delicately.

"Sona's Peerage now knows what he is, and is deathly afraid of him... well, other than Hyodo, that is. He seems to want to worship the ground our friend walks on for some reason." Rias cracked a small grin at remembering the pawn saying he wanted lessons in 'badassery' from the blonde.

"Ufufuf, I can only imagine why." Her best friend said with a chuckle.

"Anyway, apparently Sona took offense to Naruto calling out on Hyodo's perverted habits and issuing the boy a second warning." Akeno couldn't hold back a wince, she knew both of them well enough to know Naruto wouldn't back down. "I see you can imagine how that went, and you're likely not far off. Sona is not happy that she was backed down by a fresh member of my Peerage, however as he did save Hyodo from a fallen angel, she is willing to forgive it if he apologizes and I punish him for it."

"What do you intend to do Buchou?"

"What can I do? I'm going to have to get him to apologize and tell her that I 'punished' him." Rias said while still rubbing her temple. "I need to find him first so I guess I'll have time to think up some way to talk him into it."

"Finding him today isn't going to be much of a problem Buchou." Akeno said with a slight grin. Rias looked up at the other girl in confusion; it was never easy to find their blonde Rook, even when he said he wasn't hiding. The black haired girl covered her mouth to hide a giggle while pointing out the window with her other hand, following the hand she came across a sight she didn't think even she had saw coming from the unpredictable boy.

Naruto was laid out under a tree in the school yard using his arms as a pillow, obviously asleep. However, that wasn't what made the view odd. It was the fact that Koneko was curled up next to him, equally asleep while using his chest as a pillow. Yuto was seated above them, back against the tree they were under, completely at ease, looking as if he was just moments from sleep as well, but keeping enough awareness to ensure that no one came to bug the sleeping pair. This was needed, as there were a large collection of students circling the pair, only held back by the princely boy's presence.

"Of course the one day I could use more time to find him, he'd be out in the open." Rias muttered to herself, causing Akeno to giggle more.

"Look on the bright side Buchou, you wanted him to be seen with us more. I don't think people will fail to see him being slept on by Koneko-chan." The redhead only twitched in response before making her way to the cafeteria. Even she knew better than to try to talk to Naruto without him having coffee in him.

Yuto held in a yawn while rolling his neck back in hopes of getting a light pop to relieve some of the stiffness in it. While he had not been up as late as the sleeping pair next to him, he had spent until midnight training. His constant losses to Naruto wearing on his pride as a swordsmen, adding to his shame at the pure fear his comrade induced in him the day before. He could do nothing but force himself to get stronger.

The blonde knight knew he wasn't as strong as Naruto, nor did he expect to be after seeing a few displays of the power the other boy could command. However, he had at least assumed he'd be able to stand with the other boy if need be. That belief was shaken when he couldn't even stand to be near the aura Naruto produced. Rias was affected too, he'd seen her shaking a bit, but she stood her ground before him, something that made Yuto's respect for her grow even more. He however was useless, how could he be trusted to watch his friends' backs if he couldn't even help when his friends were in danger, only to run in fear ' _again._ '

He was shaken from his depressing thoughts when he heard the crowd start to whisper and move away from a path. Looking up, he smiled slightly as both Rias and Akeno were walking towards them holding trays of food and drinks. He could even spy three large cups of coffee. Apparently they need to speak with the sleeping blonde if they had that much caffeine with them. "Good afternoon Buchou, Akeno-sempai."

"Good afternoon Yuto-kun, I trust your day is going well?" Rias asked in return, a light smile on her lips as well.

"It is. Am I to assume we will be having our club meeting out here then?" The boy asked while indicating the trays of food the two were carrying with them.

"Indeed, since you three are already here and looked so comfortable I believed it would be nice to picnic outside for the day." Rias said, hoping to get some of the people to back away so they could talk without bringing too much attention to themselves.

"Ara ara, Koneko-chan, time to wake up." Akeno said with a grin as she moved to sit beside the white haired girl.

"Don't wanna." The young cat girl muttered as she buried her face into Naruto's chest.

"Oh, does that mean you don't want the cake I have for you?" Akeno said with a grin, expecting the girl to jump up for it. She and all the others there were shocked when the sweet-fiend girl seemed to have to struggle with herself as which she wanted more, the sweets or her pillow.

The decision was made for her when Naruto's nose twitched, one eye cracking open as he tried taking in his surroundings. Rias snickered lightly; she always found his waking up looks cute, before she set down a bowl of Ramen and the cups of coffee. Groans could be heard as the sleeping pair forced themselves up, one going for her promised cake the other for Ramen and Coffee.

Seconds later, Naruto was leaning his back against the tree, much as Yuto had been moments before, his Ramen done and sipping his last cup of coffee; Koneko moving to lean into him while still eating her cake. As he waited for the others to finish eating, Naruto focused on rebooting his brain so he could take in his situation ' _Red's here, she brought me coffee, so she needs to talk, she brought me Ramen, so she needs me calm. She's not looking at anyone so she doesn't like what is happening. Sparky's not teasing me so it's a serious matter, Preppy seems lost, and Kitten's still clinging so they have no idea what it is._ '

Putting his thoughts in order, Naruto came to two conclusion, neither pleasant but he'd focus on the worse one first so if it was the second one it would seem as bad. "Who did it Red, and where can I find the Bastard?" Naruto asked with a deadly calm look in his eyes.

Rias jumped slightly when she heard his voice, as did many of the other people in the area, having never heard the resident 'Ghost' sound so heated and ready to kill. Rias looked at him in shock for a few second before she seem to clue into what the boy was thinking and blushed while she waved him down. "NO, No, nobody hurt me Naruto-kun." The girl said in a slight panic, flustered that he'd get so protective of her, but worried what he'd do if she didn't calm him down. Seeing his eyes narrow slightly, as if searching her, she continued. "It's not like that really; I just came back from talking with Sona-san."

"Oh." Naruto said with a groan, as his head lobbed back into the trunk of the tree he was using as a back rest. "What's Sitri-san want now?"

Rias looked at him in surprise, not only from the lack of nickname still but the completely disregard in his tone. It was as if her oldest friend had been cast from a person of interest to one of the irrelevant masses in her Rook's mind. "Umm, she wants an apology for your tone and threats to her, and she says she wants you punished." Naruto raised an eyebrow at her, questioning what she thought on the matter. "Now I can't really tell what happened, as your description of the events from this morning was rather vague, and hers was biased. However keeping the peace in between our groups is important as is the fact that she is my oldest friend…"

"Fine, I'll say sorry, just don't expect it to be to heartfelt. Oie!" Naruto said the last part as he was poked in the ribs by the white haired girl against him. "I said I'd say sorry, honestly I will." Naruto then looked Rias dead in the eyes before he continued talking. "But make no mistake, I do this for you, not Sitri. I don't regret my actions."

Rias smiled in thanks before it became a smirk. "And as your 'Punishment' you're going to be doing some of Koneko's and Yuto's requests for the next few weeks. I think that will suffice, since she was thankful that you saved Hyodo from the fallen angel."

Naruto snorted, as he had asked for some extra work the other day to cover expenses for the new house. Rias was just taking advantage of it to make it look good for her friend, who didn't realize just how different their relationship was.

"Ara, Ghosty-kun, I've been meaning to ask since this morning but why are you calling Sitri-sama by her name? You've never called anyone by their name." Akeno asked, which gained Yuto and Rias attention as well.

"I lost all respect I had for her last night." Naruto said while he looked over at the ponytailed girl. "If I give someone a nickname or name them family, it means they are worth remembering; and more one day. You lot are some of my closest friends I ever remember having, as you accept me even with my many faults, and trust me even with my random temper problems. Yes I know I can scare you and have done so, in fact, but you've stuck with it and with me. Last night Sitri tried to threaten me for talking back to her, and when I stepped up to her she stepped back. She not only lost my respect as an equal but I could see she was going to use her Peerage to fight me, not even leading the charge, thereby losing my respect as a leader."

The group was shocked and touched by the admission that he thought so highly of them, as this was the first time he had admitted anything of that level of caring. They all knew he cared, but hearing him say it finally was touching. Rias however narrowed her eyes when she heard that Sona threatened him, the other girl had not said anything about that. "Naruto-kun, what was said that she threatened you?"

Naruto shrugged as he repeated everything that was said between the three, from the moment Dohnaseek left until he had caught up with Koneko. Rias could only groan, the boy had not treated her any differently than he did any other devil he'd met, she just didn't realize he was being his kind of respectful to her and had demanded the kind of respect she was used to; a kind he had yet to show anyone, not even one of the Great Satans. "Looks like I'm going to have to talk with Sona, otherwise this is never going to get resolved."

"That's your call Red, she's your friend. Until she can back up her tone, she's not going to get much respect from me though. Right now, she's under the Pervert as far as I'm concerned." That made them all wince, Naruto did NOT like Hyodo. If he had more respect for him than he did Sona, she had really messed up.

Rias sighed as she stood up, brushing the grass from her skirt. "Thank you, Naruto-kun for being willing to apologize for my sake." She gave him a beautiful and genuine smile, before leaning and kissing his cheek, completely ignoring the gasps from the many students watching. Naruto blinked before looking around, seemingly for the first time since waking up, and blushed. "And for having lunch with us." This time, her smile had a very teasing look to it.

"Ufufuf, Ghosty-kun got caught." Akeno said with a giggle as Rias pulled away from him. Deciding she couldn't get a better moment to tease the boy thoroughly, she slid in just as Rias pulled back and kissed the boy's other cheek, making his blush increase in proportion, as well as him developing a twitch in his eye. He could just imagine how bad the rumors were going to be after this. Looking down at Koneko, he hoped he'd get some support from the white haired cat girl, only to receive a kiss at the edge of his lips.

Seeing where her kiss ended up, Koneko blushed brightly before she scrambled up and followed after the other two giggling girls as they left for class. Naruto twitched again as he slowly turned to Yuto. "Don't worry, I won't kiss you. It would break the hearts of most of the girls in the school, though I think you broke every other guy's heart with that."

"Prep, what the fuck just happened?"

"I do believe you just got pranked." The blonde prince said with a grin. "Well, at least partly."

"Don't make me kick your pretty boy ass." Naruto said mockingly.

"Speaking of, I wanted to ask you." Yuto started before looking at Naruto completely seriously, causing the other blonde to lose any playfulness. "Please start training me seriously."

Naruto looked slightly confused by the request. "What do you mean? Our spars are the best I have for sword play."

Yuto closed his eyes, knowing what he was about to say would hurt his pride, but it had to be done if he was going to make this man see he was serious. "I was afraid." He admitted lowly, but still catching Naruto's attention. "When you faced off with Rias, I was so afraid I couldn't move; I just wanted to run away. It was the same as before, I don't want that, ever again. If you, my comrade, my friend, can make me feel like that, if you ever truly needed my help, I'd be useless." Yuto's fist clenched so tightly his knuckles turned as white as snow and popped, his head was bowed low. "I know you have secrets, and I don't care what it takes, or what you do to me, just please stop me from feeling that way again."

Naruto looked the boy over. His normally pristine vintage was now rough and trembling from rage and self-loathing. He had abandoned his pride for the sake of his friends and asked for help, willing to throw away everything for their sake, something he could understand. Running a hand through his spiky blonde locks Naruto stood up. "Get up Preppy, your fangirls are about to revolt." Yuto, thinking he was being rejected stared to tremble more, on the verge of breaking. "If you really want this, after we take care of the strays, we will start. Just be sure you're ready because if I start, I'm not stopping until I think you're ready, no matter how much you beg."

Yuto's head snapped up at the lazy looking boy, who was now scratching an odd looking tattoo that was exposed on his chest through his disheveled shirt; it looked like an inward spiral with a 15 in the middle of it. "That and I hope you like tattoos." Naruto added before he walked away from the now confused and hopeful Knight.

* * *

"Okay, we should NOT do that again." Rias said. The group was once more at the abandoned mansion, which seemed to attract strays to it. While they were coming, Naruto had questioned what would have happened if they tried mixing his flames with Rias's power of destruction. He'd just been covering the different effects of union spells, and he had asked about the idea. Rias said that although she couldn't be sure, as most other power simply disappeared from her power, his flames would be the first to truly match and over power them.

So, curious about what could happen, the group stopped outside the front of the mansion to test the results before they attempted to face Vizor. The results were nothing like they had expected. "Why not, that was AWESOME!" Naruto said with a laugh.

"Senpai no baka." Koneko said with a sweat drop.

"Oh come on Kitten, that was totally a blast."

"That joke just sucked, Naruto." Yuto said while he was unable to look away from the results of the King's and Rook's attack. The Mansion and about 50 yards of forest behind it were now a hole in the ground. There was no wreckage, no broken trees, there wasn't even any smoke left over, just barren dirt.

"Err, I'm fairly sure that Vizor is dead, Buchou. So I think this counts as our fastest suppression to date." Akeno said, slightly taken aback by how deadly the combined abilities of their two strongest members could be.

"Yeah, now imagine if we did that that at full power Red." Naruto said with a chuckle. Rias suddenly got an image of using that power on Riser and slowly started releasing an evil chuckle. The sadistic smile on her face started to turn Akeno on a bit, while the other two backed away. Naruto simply thought of different ways he could combine his attacks with the rest of the Peerage.

"Mah, let's just go have dinner. I think I have enough chicken left for Pad Thai, and assuming Hebi-imouto didn't get at it, I have some tuna steaks." Naruto said as he clapped his hands together, making the whole group disappear in a black flash.

As soon as they were gone, a man stepped into the clearing with a look of deep concern on his face. The man was easily 6 feet tall, wearing a reddish-purple trench coat that reached almost to his feet, black slacks and combat boots. His hair was black except for the bangs which shown a bright blonde that matched Naruto's own hair, and had a small goatee on the bottom of his chin. The most startling part of the man was the 12 jet black wings that escaped the back of his coat. This man was the leader of the Fallen Angels, Azazel. Governor General of Grigori, and Naruto's legal guardian. "Oh man Naru, what kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?"

* * *

"Hmm?" Naruto noised as he heard 'Nookie' by Limp Bizkit coming from his phone while he was cooking dinner. "Uncle?" he thought to himself while pulling out his phone to look at the messages. ' _Oh it's that time already? Guess I better tell Red._ ' "HEY SPARKY! COULD YOU COME HERE A SEC?" The blonde called out to the other room to the only person he trusted not to ruin his cooking.

"Oro? You called Ghosty-kun?" Akeno said while she swiped into the room like the ghost she called him.

"Yeah. I need to tell Red something, could you watch the food for a bit?" Naruto asked, dropping the last of the tuna steaks onto the griddle to cook.

"Of course," She said with a happy smile. As much as she liked to have her meals cooked for her, she was so used to doing it for Rias, she started to feel a little useless now that Naruto did practically everything around the house. ' _I would love to know how he has time to do it though._ '

"Thanks Sparky." The blonde boy said as he swapped places with her, but not without give her a quick pinch on her butt as he passed.

"Eep!"

"Now we're even." The blonde called as he disappeared out the door, never seeing the blush covering the dark haired girl's cheeks.

Naruto found the girl he was looking for in the living room, reading through a rather large book while Hikari and Koneko were playing another video game, Yuto sat in a corner with gloom clouds over his head. "Let me guess, they schooled you in their games again?" He asked the gloomy boy, who nodded sadly, causing Naruto to chuckle. "You'll learn one day." he said before turning to his target. "Yo Red, got a sec?"

Rias blinked up from her book to see Naruto standing in the doorway. "Sure." She said, putting her book to the side before moving out towards where the boy was heading once more. Naruto had made it out into the backyard before he stopped and waited for her to catch up to him. "What's the matter Naruto-kun?"

"I need to ditch school for tomorrow at least, maybe longer." The boy said catching her off guard.

"What?! Why?" Rias said suddenly worried.

Naruto chuckled lightly. "No, whatever you're thinking, that's not it." he said causing her to blush at him catching her that easily. "My Uncle's in town and wants to meet."


	6. Fallen Daze

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Highschool DxD, or any other anime or manga that end up in this story.

AN: Thanks go out to HurricaneLaurk and others for Beta reading and correcting this story. As well special thanks SC CloudStrife and his wife, for all the help they've given me to help fight off writers block since this story started and to Dadlop3 with his Omake Idea's I'll be adding later.

Also I'd like to note Mushy Guillotine for helping me with some reference issues I had.

And my thanks go out to Kathryn18 for inspiring me to write this story.

Trying Again 6

Fallen Daze

Naruto yawned loudly while he sat himself down in the café where he was to meet his uncle. He was lucky. The Shinoda was one of the cafes he frequently use to pass on his way to school, the owners therefore knowing words and him didn't mix well in the morning. Mrs. Shido had only given him a smile while handing him his first coffee as he waited. The kind women hadn't even asked why he was there and not in school, simply giving him a cup and pointing to the corner of the café.

The woman was in her mid 40's, even if, she could pass herself off for her late 20's with little trouble. Her glossy black hair held up in a bun at the back of her head. Light shone from her happy black eyes while she greeted each customer with the same friendly and honest greeting that made her popular, and this café by extension. She was always extra friendly towards Naruto. What many didn't know outside her family was that not all of the victims the blonde had protected during his gang hunts had missed seeing who saved them. Some didn't figure out who it was at the time, others just didn't get to thank him. All realized their protector neither wanted to be thanked for what he had done nor did he want the attention.

Mrs. Shido would have been the victim of at least a mugging, had the blonde not stepped in. She couldn't make out who he was at the time, he'd moved so fast and disabled the gang in moments, knocking them all out before he simply faded into the shadows of the alleyway they had jumped from. It had taken a month before she found a connection between her savior and the quiet blonde boy. She had been volunteering at the same park as him on a Saturday three years prior and had watched him fade away, just as her savior had.

The final straw was when her daughter had almost been raped a year later, all that the young girl could see was a small golden flash, before her would-be attackers were put into comas. Now that the boy had saved both of them from attacks, she and her husband could never repay the debt to the boy, who asked for nothing more than coffee in return. The older women honestly didn't believe the boy realized who he saved those days, only that someone needed help, and it warmed her heart as well as annoyed her to no end.

She knew she was a good looking woman. The amount of men that tried to seduce her away from her husband could attest to such, as was the number of would-be boyfriends for her daughter that would drool while looking at her, pathetic wannabe boyfriends that would be turned away. Neither woman could get as much as a second look that wasn't polite from the boy however. At one point, they thought he may have swung the other way. However, he never gave anybody a second look, male or female. It wasn't until the woman and her daughter had got him to enter with the promise of free coffee that they saw the problem with the quiet blonde, his eyes were empty.

Since that day, the whole family; her husband having been told both what the boy did and been up to date as things progressed, had been watching over the boy as best they could. It wasn't until the last couple of months that she started to see a small spark starting to enter those normally dead eyes, something she couldn't be happier about. Once she heard that her favorite blonde was walking with a girl to school, one that had been trying very hard to keep the boy out of traffic, that she knew the cause of the spark.

She was less pleased though that the other shopkeepers had spoken of seeing multiple women being seen with him, walking with him or holding his hand. Then again she thought, that did lead to a better chance for her daughter being able to have a chance with him. Many others had started to believe the boy was the local hero as well, though none could prove it, and would deny it if asked by anyone other than those he'd saved. No one wanted to see the boy in trouble for vigilantism, and considering all the volunteer work the boy did, everyone knew he was a good kid.

She had to stop her thoughts when a very handsome man walk into her shop. His hair was midnight black except for the bangs, which were golden blonde. The man had a laidback air about him, even as he wore a very expensive looking black and silver business suit with glossy black dress shoes. The second the man caught her looking him over, he gained a flirtatious smile and made his way towards her. "Well hello beautiful, see something you like?"

"Yeah, your perverted ass about to get dragged away." Came a voice behind the man. Both adults looked back to see Naruto standing there with a stern look on his face. "You are an hour late and the first thing you do is start hitting on a married woman?"

"No, first thing I do is see a beautiful woman that I say hello to, you brat." The man said while he turned completely around to face the blonde boy. "Besides, I'm not an hour late am I?"

Naruto looked at the clock behind the counter. "You're right, you're an hour and a half late. How does your business even run when you can't even make it to appointment you set up on time?"

"Hey, I make it to important ones!" The man cried out in mock outrage.

"So, you're saying I'm not important. Geez thanks Uncle Az."

The man with bi0coloured hair groaned. "That's not what I meant, brat, and you know it."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the man before focusing on the woman behind the counter. "Sorry about him, Shido-oba-chan. He's harmless, just very perverted."

"Oie! I'm not Perverted, I just happen to be a great admirer of the female form."

"Same difference, idiot." Naruto countered before he started to hear the woman behind the counter laughing lightly. Turning to her with a small smile, he saw her trying to hold in her laughter at the byplay between the two. "Can we get two more coffees please?"

"Of course Uzumaki-kun. I'll bring them to your table." The woman said with a smile.

"Thanks." The boy said with a smile before turning to the man with a flat look. "Come on perv, you're the one that wanted me to meet you here."

"Awe come on Naru-chan, you don't have to be so mean about it." Azazel said as he followed the boy to his table.

"With you, anything less and you don't listen." Naruto countered again while sitting down at his table. "And I told you too stop calling me that."

"Awww, come on lighten up." Azazel said taking the seat across from his charge.

"Act your age."

"If I did that, I'd be a pile of dust." The man shot back with a grin.

Naruto stopped for half a second when he heard that. This was a new counter, normally he'd say something along the lines of 'where's the fun in that?' Naruto resumed taking the last sip of his coffee while he waited for the new one to be delivered. "So what's on your mind? You'd normally just show up where I live or drag me out of school."

"Well, you know that trouble I asked you to stay away from; the **devils** are starting to drag things out a bit." Azazel said, emphasizing 'devils' while looking directly in to Naruto's eyes.

"I see." Naruto said, stopping as a waitress came over with their coffees. Naruto thanked her politely, getting a flirty wink back, which went right over his head.

Azazel tried to wink at her, only for the young waitress to leave in a huff, causing the boy across from him to chuckle lightly."Oh shut up, brat. You still haven't gotten yourself your first girlfriend, you're not allowed to laugh."

"You do realize that house I bought houses me and four other girls right?" Naruto asked, not realizing a number of the patrons suddenly became very interested in his conversation.

"Yes, you told me. One of them you adopted off the streets to be your little sister, two of them work for a living while trying to get through school, the last one is your new school club president who dorms in town. Plus you have another guy that might take one of your extra rooms. All those girls and you've yet to make it to first base with any of them, oh were did I go wrong?" Azazel cried out dramatically at the end, only to get flicked in the head by a stir stick from Naruto. Shaking off his joke, the man looked across to the boy, a calm but somewhat serious look on his face. "So how are your little **Devils**?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, that was a second time Azazel had emphasized the name. "Good, all of them are working hard; though I'll be sure to keep them the **hell** away from a pervert like you."

"Come on brat, I haven't **Fallen** that far in your eyes have I?"

"Nah, I guess not. Come on, I'm finally awake so let's take a walk." Naruto said while he stood up and made his way to pay, only to get waved off by Mrs. Shido. "Thanks I'll see you next time." He called out before following his 'Uncle' into the streets.

The pair walked in silence until they reached the park Naruto had saved Sitri's perverted pawn in, before the boy finally started to talk again. "So I'm taking it you weren't named after the fallen of lust then."

Azazel grinned as he remembered the first time Naruto had made reference to his name. "Got it in one." His smile then dropped a little, glad his charge hadn't started showing any signs of weariness, but still not happy with what he believed happened. "So how'd you end up a devil?"

"I'm not one." Naruto said back while he started moving to a more secluded area of the park so their conversation wouldn't be overheard easily. "Got killed by some ugly ass death worm thing while saving the local devil regent. She tried to bring me back but something went screwy."

Azazel palmed his face as he heard Naruto's vague recounting of events. Something that, while he was used too, still annoyed him greatly. "Brat, you're going to need to be more detailed than that."

"You first ji-chan." Naruto said back, giving the man a flat look. "You've been avoiding telling me anything about yourself for years. I had to DIE to get you to even tell me what you are, so talk."

Azazel winced at that but couldn't deny that it was true. With a groan, the Fallen angel cast a barrier around the two, taking them out of the normal humans view, before completely releasing all 12 of his black angel wings. "As you know, I'm Azazel, Seraphim level Fallen Angel and Governor General of Grigori. Leader of the Fallen Angel and your guardian, I've been watching you since you appeared in this world." The man said, watching to see how the boy reacted. Naruto always claimed to know nothing about himself and, as the kid was a baby when he showed up, there'd been no reason to doubt him.

"So you knew I was from a different world then? Anyone else know?" Naruto said calmly. He was dealing with an ancient being so there really was no reason to be surprised he knew about him.

"Uhh, Michael, leader of the Angels and Sirzechs, current Lucifer leader of the Devils. You're not surprised by the fact your from a different world? You never alluded to being from one, or even that you knew anything beyond normal human knowledge before."

"I learned a lot when I died." Naruto said simply while he waved the man to continue.

"Right. We all watched you at first, as we could feel a strong unnatural power inside of you, but it kept disappearing, and making your presence disappear with it. After a few years, Heaven gave you a blessing of fortune, and then stopped looking at you. So Sirzachs and I decided you should just have as normal a life as you could until whatever the power was, reactivated. Sirzachs took a slightly hands off approach, as all your schooling needs were going to be taken care of. You're even going to be getting an open invitation to Tokyo University, in any course you want, for free." Azazel explained, getting a wide eyed look from the boy. He hadn't realized just how many people were watching over him all his life here.

"And you took the hands on approach by becoming my guardian?" Naruto asked, wanting to get all the details.

"Yeah, wasn't originally going to though. You were supposed to be adopted into some family that I'd always be making sure everything you needed was taken care, but weird stuff happened, and you kept getting tossed from orphanage to orphanage, or foster home to foster home so quickly we were afraid we'd lose track of you. So I took guardianship, but with my agreement with the other two factions I couldn't take you with me while I was doing my job no matter how much I wanted to. So after you started wanting to know about me, I contacted the others and we set another agreement to meet up after you finished university so you could learn about us all on more equal terms."

Naruto rubbed his head as he took all of this in. Although he didn't like how his life was being orchestrated behind his back, as well as being left alone because of plans around him, he couldn't truly fault the man that he'd come to see as family. He was getting flashes of how something similar had happened to him in his last life as well. Before he could say anything about it, Azazel continued talking.

"Look Naruto, I know you're pissed about this, and likely feel betrayed by us all. For that, I'm truly sorry, it was never meant to go this way. Being that most of us live for thousands of years, we tend to forget what time is like when you're young. For us, 10 years passes in the blink of an eye, but for you it must have been…"

"Shut up Uncle." Naruto cut in, his voice filled with exhaustion, while he rubbed his temples. "I'm not mad at you lot. Upset and a little annoyed, but not really mad." Looking up when he heard a surprised 'HUH?' from his adoptive uncle, he almost wanted to laugh at the shocked look on the Fallen's face. Deciding he'd heard enough that he felt level with the man, Naruto released his draconic wings and leaned against one of the trees in the park. "Red's already explained most of the ceasefire standoff bullshit that's going on with your factions. I know you well enough to know you'd rather spend your time playing with some gizmo or chasing tail then fighting." Here Azazel scratched his cheek with a nervous chuckle, as he really couldn't deny the boy's words about what he'd like to spend his time on. "So if this Lucifer is even half as relaxed as that Ajuka dude I met, then he'd likely not want any more wars either, meaning you both couldn't go against the agreement for one kid's sake, no matter who the kid was."

"Yeah, that pretty much sums up what happened. So now that I've come clean with you care to tell me how you have dragon wings and are with the local Devils?"

"Fair's fair. However, afterwards you are telling me what 'trouble' is happening in the area that made you come here." Naruto stated, which Azazel easily nodded to. He hadn't liked not telling the boy anyway, too much work trying to make up and remember the lies he told. "Ok, so I've been kind of doing patrols at night, taking out gangs and what have you. From the lack of surprise, I'm guessing you already found out about them. Well, on the night of your call I had decided to do one last sweep to get rid of my lingering annoyance with you for dodging my questions again." Azazel just shrugged, he could understand where Naruto was coming from. Not that he had any say in the matter, but he could understand it. "Anyway, I found some spider lady kidnapping five guys off the street, so I chased her. When I caught up to her, she had met up with a larger group of monsters. I was planning my attack on them to try and save the humans when the two local Devil leaders and their queens showed up and started a fight. Near the end of the fight, I saw the ground moving behind Red and Sparky so I gunned it down to get them out of the way, but the Death Worm was too close so I could only get them out of the way, not myself too. Got three spears through my chest for my troubles. The girls say I'd looked at it and released my Void Flames on the thing, which destroyed it. Red tried to resurrect me as a Devil but something caused the process to go wonky. Doc says it's likely because of my Flames but he can't be sure. End result was I'm a dragon-kin with seven evil pieces inside me."

Azazel could only blink several times when he'd heard just how the boy got changed as he had. "Well, I can honestly say you're never boring to have around, kid. Three questions, though. One: who are Red, Sparky and Doc? Two: Void Flames? Three: How's that explain how you know you're from a different world?"

Naruto smirked a bit at the 'never boring' comment, as he got that a lot lately. "One: Red is Rias Gremory, Sparky is Akeno Himejima, & Doc is Ajuka Beleezabub. Three: Apparently this is my second time dying and being brought back. As for Two..." Naruto held up his right hand and stared at it for a second. A sudden wave of emptiness overcame Azazel, as he watched black flames form around Naruto's hand. "These are Void Flames, they feed on everything and anything. What you are feeling right now is the flames feeding on your emotions." Naruto explained, willing the flames away before looking at the Fallen Angel. "Any other question?"

"Hundreds, but will you allow me to examine you?" Azazel asked in glee.

"No chopping me up or anything up my butt, and it should be fine." Naruto said with a shrug before looking at the man with an expecting look.

"Right, the trouble. A good few of my Fallen have gone rogue on me, following Kokabiel. I've sent Raynare to try and find out what's going on but she just sent back a report that says she needs to 'prove' her loyalty to their cause and steal a sacred gear from a nun that was being brought to this area." Azazel had to stop when he felt another wave of emptiness wash over him as the boy before him seem to 'shift'. The blonde's eyes turned a glowing red while flames started crawling up his right side, a bubbling mass of vermillion energy coating his left. "I take it you know the nun then?" Azazel questioned, while raising an eyebrow at the angry boy.

Taking several calming breaths, Naruto finally nodded to acknowledge the man's question. "Yes, her name's Asia." Finally calming down enough to completely pull his energy back in, Naruto looking up again. "Sorry, I'm still having trouble controlling my temper. I'm working on it though."

Azazel waved his worries off. "Its fine, I'm actually glad to see you have one. Showing any emotion, even negative ones, is better than none at all."

Another thought suddenly struck Naruto as he has been absorbing what Azazel had told him. "Wait, you said Raynare, is that the same Raynare you introduced me too? The girl with the belt fetish?"

Azazel started to nod until Naruto mentioned the belt fetish and couldn't hold back his laughter. "Yes that's the one. Hahaha."

Naruto could only groan. "That woman hates me, why did you ask her?"

Azazel deadpanned at the boy. "She asked for something close to you."

Naruto took his turn to palm his face at that. Of course his pervert Uncle would put any girl that wanted near him, near him. "You are more desperate to get me laid then you are to get yourself laid aren't you?"

"Hey I'm not desperate!"

Naruto simply twitched. "That didn't answer my question, Az."

"Oh look, the barrier is falling."

"AZ!"

* * *

"I swear, one of these days… gah, that man… I don't need his help finding a girl…" Naruto couldn't stop his innate rants of half-formed sentences as he stalked into the club room without even looking up to see if anyone was there. He threw himself down into the armchair, ready to just sit there and brood until he could handle dealing with people again. However, he wasn't able to, as he felt someone sit down in his lap.

Shaken from his angry thoughts, he looked up to see the worried frown just barely there on Koneko's mostly expressionless face. Exhaling a sigh, the blonde dragon let his frustration bleed off as he started petting the white-haired girl's head while examining the rest of the room, which happened to be full, including Sitri and her peerage. ' _Great, more irritations._ ' the boy thought before looking over at his King, ignoring the other high-class Devil. "Sorry to interrupt Red, didn't realize there was going to be a meeting today, or I would have stayed away."

"Damn him, I want her sitting on my lap." Came the quiet whine from the brown-haired Pawn.

"No, it's okay Naruto-kun, I forgot to text you. I didn't think you'd be back this early." Rias said, not sure what to say. She'd just finished telling her old friend about Naruto's punishment, as well as how he had family matters to take care so he wouldn't be around much, only for the boy to walk right in.

Seeing her worry, the blonde made it a bit easier on the red haired King, and smiled slightly. "I'm still on punishment detail, so while I take care of my personal business on my time, I'm your whipping boy on yours."

"I see you do have some measure of control over your servant at least." Sona said, although she was mostly just overly angry at many matters that had been transpiring as of late.

Sona had been in much the same situation as Rias was in. Both had been forced into unwanted arranged marriages before they were born and had been working to get out of them. Sona had managed to convince her now ex-fiancé to wager her engagement in a game of chess, saying she wouldn't marry anyone unless they could beat her. She had won and thought herself free, which she had told Rias about. What she found out just under a month ago, shortly before deciding to turn Issei, was that her parents had set up another engagement, one for HER children, to another family of Devils. Since Sona had managed to get out of the first one, the second one had come into effect; landing her with an all new, but just as arrogant, fiancé.

She had originally come here to discuss this with her friend. However, Issei had made it a point that he wanted to talk with Naruto again, something about getting badass lessons. So her whole Peerage had come with her, including her newest Pawn, Saji Genshirou, who was looking at the Gremory Rook pair trying to find out what is so intimidating about them.

"It's not control; it's my respect that Red has, Sitri. Something you don't have any more." Naruto said. "I am sorry that I'm blunt and honest about my opinions, but if Ajuka Beleezabub gets called Doc by me; even if I didn't get reminded of who the dude was till after he left, I'm not giving you any better treatment."

"You said you'd apologize." Koneko said while poking his side.

"I said sorry in there." Naruto said, trying to defend himself.

"That was the shittist apology I've ever heard, and believe me I've heard some bad ones from guys at school." Yuto said as he looked at the blonde Rook. "I think that was even worse than that Kojiro guy's."

"Really, that bad?"

"Hai Ghosty-kun."

"You too, Sparky?"

"That didn't even seem to be a try, Naruto-kun."

"Well crap, I'm totally outnumbered on this one." Naruto said, poking Koneko to get up for a minute. Standing up to his full height, Naruto took a deep breath before releasing it. "I, Uzumaki Naruto, officially apologize for my actions that may have been taken offensively by Sitri Sona, and any other member of her Peerage."

"You do know you're supposed to bow during those, right?" Genshirou said from off to Naruto's side.

"Meh, I don't bow." Naruto said walking back to his chair; which suddenly became a three person seat as Akeno sat on his left leg, mirrored to Koneko sitting on his right.

Sona sighed. "As far as official apologies go, your wording was good. Though I get the distinct feeling, this will not be the last time we clash on perspectives."

Naruto looked at her before looking back at Rias. "Do you have my contract list for tonight, Red? I would prefer not to cause any more diplomatic issues." Rias eyes widened before nodding and quickly started looking through the paperwork on her desk to find his list.

Sona's eyes narrowed as she was blatantly ignored by the young dragon before her. This was something she was not used to, nor did she like. Looking him over, she struck upon a thought that she remembered Rias telling her about, how the boy liked to make bets with anything as a wager. "Uzumaki-san, I have a bet for you."

Naruto looked over at the pink eyed devil. "Oh?"

Glad that she was being acknowledged now, the student council president quickly nodded. "A game of chess. If I win, you must acknowledge me with respect, as well as give a proper apology, bow and all."

"If that is the bet, then the only equal terms I will accept, are you NEVER demand anything of me again, ever. No matter how I act or what I say. Also, from this point on, until I acknowledge you as my equal once more, you must refer to me and any I have given nicknames to as Sama. Accept or Denied?"

"How is that an even bet?" Issei questioned, while almost everyone else in Sona's Peerage was telling her not to accept.

"The bow." Koneko said simply which confused the brown-haired pervert greatly.

"Ghosty-kun hasn't even bowed to Buchou yet, nor anyone for that matter. As a dragon, it's a matter of pride for him. His first words out of his mouth when we told him how he died and came back were 'I do not bow.' Now Sona is trying to make him do that." Akeno said after having stood up and moved next to the pervert to explain how their dragon thought. "Ghosty is loyal to his family and friends, insanely protective, and very strong. However, he also has his pride, something of a new situation for him, and none of us want him to lose that."

"Very well, I accept." Sona's voice said, cutting off all conversations. Rias could only sink into her chair, sad because she'd not been able to find the list in time to stop this bet, although she wondered how odd it was going to be to hear her oldest friend calling her 'Rias-sama'; as she didn't have much hope in her friend winning.

Nobody from Rias's Peerage believed Sona stood a chance against Naruto. Not because he was the better chess player, or even knew all the rules. He just played so chaotically that trying to keep up with him, and what he was doing, was near impossible. For someone like Sona, who was always mapping hers and her opponents moves, she was in for a migraine before she even took the first piece.

"Checkmate." Naruto said bluntly. The game had lasted an hour and a half; the only pieces Naruto had left on the board would match Rias's Peerage in this room, plus one pawn that he just moved to take out Sona's King by promoting it to a second queen. Sona, on the other hand, had her board decimated from trying to out-think Naruto, as he simply countered traps by not moving the piece she thought he'd move… ever.

"I don't get it, how'd you see through all my strategies?" Sona asked, flabbergasted.

"Simple." Naruto said while gaining the attention of the black haired girls peerage to him, while his own group already knew what was coming and moved about their business. "I didn't. I just did the last thing on my list of moves first, then continued to mix up my moves until you were too lost to see what I was doing." The boy then stood up and moved towards Rias's desk to collect his list. "Remember our deal."

"Yes Uzumaki-sama." Sona said, bowing her head to him. She could easily acknowledge him now, as he was the first person to beat her at chess since she was 11. Even her mother and father no longer could give her a challenge, yet this young man had beat her in less time than she thought possible.

"Gods, that sounds weird. I hope she figures this out quick." Naruto muttered to himself while he looked over Rias's desk, looking for his list.

"Ara ara, if you don't like the way it sounds, why have her do it, Ghosty-kun?" Akeno asked quietly beside him.

"Fastest way I could figure to both make her sweat and see why she pissed me off." Naruto explained equally as quietly, while looking through papers. "You all know I don't like putting people under or above others. She both talked like she owned her peerage, not work with them, and talked down to me like she was my better. This puts her in a position where she's been put under those who were her equals and below her. Ah Ha" Naruto cried out, as he found his list in the mess that was Rias's desk. "Well I'm off Red, have fun."

"Be safe, and try not to make too many multi-year contracts. The paperwork for your last one was disturbing." Rias said with a small smile.

"I'll try, but with my luck, anything's possible. Oh, and my Uncle is at the house so please just ignore anything the pervert says."

"What did I do?" Issei asked, having heard 'pervert' from Naruto and immediately assumed he was being talked about. Everyone looked at the boy and could only blink.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd gotten so used to being insulted that you now acknowledge it as a name. I'm not sure if that's impressive or disturbing." Naruto said as he looked at the boy.

"Disturbing." Rias, Koneko and Yuto said at the same time while Akeno was the only one to pipe in "Impressive." The Sitri Peerage simply shook their heads in shame.

"Of course you'd say that, Sparky." Naruto said before disappearing in a flash of black, before anyone to say anything else.

"Muuuu. I'm starting to dislike that spell already; he always gets the last word in now." Akeno said with a bit of a pout.

"As if he couldn't just disappear on you before." Yuto said back while he moved around to one of the couches, watching as the other Peerage was trying to come out of their shock from seeing their King lose in chess so badly.

"And everyone questions why I want him to teach me how to be badass." Issei said.

"He won't." Koneko said while curling up in his chair now that he was gone.

"Why not?" The brown-haired pervert said while he thought of all the girls he'd get if he was as badass as the blonde.

"For one, Naruto is a dragon. Unless you give something up of equal or greater value, he won't even acknowledge you. And for two…" Yuto stopped and let Koneko finish this statement.

"Naruto-kun doesn't like you." The white-haired cat girl said flatly, causing the brown-haired teen to get gloom clouds over his head as he suddenly was in the corner of the room poking the floor.

"Ara ara, it's not so bad Hyodo-kohai. He does have more respect for you then he does for Sitri-sama at the moment." The ponytail queen said with a bit of a smile, causing a wave of shock through the Student Council group.

"What do you mean Himejima-sama? Why does he have more respect for Hyodo-san, whom he very much dislikes, than me?" Sona asked, while she tried to remember whom he nicknamed. "Also, would any of you perhaps know who Uzumaki-sama has given nicknames to? I do not want to make a mistake."

"All my active Peerage have nicknames, along with his sister, a nun by the name of Argento Asia, and the café owners on Eight street get called aunt and uncle by him. Oh and I believe 'Uncle' counts as a nickname for his guardian, but I'm not entirely sure in that regard." Rias supplied easily. "You did have a nickname before the other night, but you lost that right from him."

Sona's eyes widened when she thought about who he nicknamed as well as his escape clause, she must refer to all those he nicknamed as Sama until he saw her as his equal. "That's how he shows others that he thinks of them as his equal isn't it, the nicknames?"

Rias smiled and nodded to her friend "He's also VERY protective of those he is close to, in both health and happiness." At this point, she turned to Issei before continuing to talk "Which is why he is so harsh on you, Hyodo-san. Koneko is very modest and slightly self-conscious about her body beyond the fact that she doesn't like perverts. Your attitude towards her, as well as your attempts to peep on her, has pretty well blacklisted you. Although you might still have a chance to gain his acceptance, as he still has a measure of respect for you, thought I couldn't tell you why."

"Didn't back away." Koneko said quietly, a small folded piece of paper in her hands being slipped into her pocket.

"Didn't back away?" Issei asked in confusion. "From what?"

"Him."

"OF COURSE!" Yuto exclaimed slapping his fist into his other hand, "Naruto's biggest respect for Buchou is that if she believes she's right, until she's proven wrong, she will stand her ground even against him. No matter how afraid she gets, she always holds her head high and walks forwards." Yuto looked at the brown-haired boy, "You saw how strong and dangerous he could be, but instead of running away in fear of him, we were told you were trying to find him and ask for 'badass' lessons. It's not likely to happen but as least you are standing before him."

Issei returned to his gloom cloud when he heard no one believed he'd get his lessons for being a badass.

* * *

"Oh, this isn't ominous at all." Naruto said sarcastically as he looked at the dark house with the door opened a crack, the smell of blood heavy in the air. He expected a lot of things when he started doing devil requests, but this would be the first place that even looked close to a cheesy B-rate horror movie satanic cult. Wearily making his way inside the house, Naruto had his sense on high alert for any threats.

When he entered the living room he froze, there crucified upside down to the wall was a man; the home owner Naruto assumed, he looked like he was tortured before he was killed. "What sort of sick fuck…"

"Welcome! What do we hav…" The man at the door behind Naruto started to say only to have to duck out of the way quickly as two Kunai were embedded in the wall where his head would have been. "That was really dangerous, Devil-kun." The young man at the door was a gray haired, red eyed teen who couldn't have been much older than Naruto himself. His hair just reached the shoulders of his white ceremonial jacket over the uniform style clothing he covered himself with. A small chain hung from his neck holding a silver cross hanging in the middle of his chest, while a weapon holster attached to his right leg to finish his outfit.

"Were you the one to do this?"

"Well of course, he was a rep…" The gray haired teen was once again forced to dodge a set of blades flying at him at a fast clip. "That was really rude Devil-kun."

"I really can't bring myself to care. Monsters like you don't deserve politeness." Naruto said as he jumped at the cross-wearing killer with his fist cocked back to deliver a fierce punch.

The gray-haired teen jumped sideways to avoid the punch while laughing insanely and pulling a gun on Naruto "Yes this is what I live for, my name is Freed Sellzen, shitty Devil. Now die." Freed yelled out while pulling the trigger of the gun, earning burn holes in Naruto's attire.

Knowing he missed his punch, Naruto landed his lunge and used his momentum to grab the kunai he'd last thrown at the insane man, hoping his Rook durability held against the man's gun. He was surprisingly glad to find out the bullets felt like little more than flies running into his chest and side. Blade in hand, Naruto quickly turned back to the still-laughing idiot and charged at him. The priest was taken off guard when the blonde appeared in front of him, swinging his short blade at his chest, and just managed to stumble away from the slash, losing his cross in the process.

As the priest stumbled away from the angry ninja, he grabbed the handle of his light blade and making a slashing arc upwards with it, igniting the blade while in mid-swing. Naruto had to throw himself into a roll to avoid the suddenly ignited blade. Once he came back to his feet, he had to jump backwards again in order to avoid the gray-haired boy's follow-up attack. Realizing he'd ended up back where the man had entered from, Naruto threw his kunai at the man, causing him to stop and defend long enough for the blonde to retrieve his other blades out of the wall and return to the attack with twin blades in hand, the last back in his sleeve for use later.

Channeling his chakra into the Kunai, he clashed blades with the man in the center of the room, causing a deadlock between the two smaller blades and the larger light-made sword. "You're very good Devil-kun, let's have lots of fun before I cut you to pieces." The large insane smile on the priest's face made the ninja wonder if he spent all his spare time sniffing paint thinner.

"Let's not." Naruto said before he shot his forward knee up into the man's lower stomach, right above the pelvis, while moving his body to the side to cause the sword wielder to shift forward from the loss of resistance.

"Gah!" the gray-haired teen cried out in surprised and pain, spit shooting from between his lips as Naruto's knee sharply dug into his stomach.

Naruto stepped back, allowing the insane man to fall to the floor. "Do you even feel any remorse for killing this man?" Naruto asked, disgusted with the being in front of him. Before he could receive an answer, he heard a gasp of horror from the door behind him. Looking up, he was surprised to find Asia in the doorway, a horrified look on her face as she stared at the crucified man. "Goldie?" Naruto whispered in shock.

"Father Freed, you didn't do this, did you?" Asia asked in horror.

"Of course I did, I got bored wait to spring our trap on this devil. So since he was in cahoots with the devils, he had to die anyway." Freed said as he started to secretly reach inside his coat to get something.

"But Father, he was an innocent man. And Naruto-san isn't a Devil." Asia said trying to understand how this could happen.

"Of course he's a devil, why else would he be here?" Freed asked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Not only are you insane but you're an idiot as well." Naruto said. "Have you ever considered the fact that I might have been friends with Shinji?" Naruto said, as he learned the name from Koneko; who was the original contractor with this client.

"His name was Shinji?" Freed asked, completely ignoring that he'd been called an idiot and the fact that he hadn't considered that the man could have had normal human friends. "Oh well, I'm still going to kill you anyway even if you're not a devil, then I'll just wait for the devil to come." As he said this, he pulled a cylinder from his coat before pressing a button on the top. Naruto was completely unprepared for a defining bang that went off, or the sharp slash that dug across his chest right afterward.

"GAHHH!" Naruto screamed out as he stumbled away from his attacker. Just when a second attack was about to take place, Freed had to pull back, as the little blonde nun jumped in between the two. The whole front of her clothing was sliced in two, exposing her breasts and panties to the world.

"That was dangerous, you idiot. You almost got sliced in two! Hurry back and prepare the trap!" Freed yelled at the girl. Asia however didn't move. Tears were sliding from her eyes while she stared back defiantly at the crazed man, her arms widely extended to cover as much area between the man and the downed Naruto. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't let you kill this Naruto-san, he is a kind and gentle soul. Killing is wrong! The Lord wouldn't like this…" Anything else Asia would have said was cut off as the butt of the exorcist's gun slammed into the side of her head, throwing her to the floor, a small amount of blood leaking from her lips.

Freed approached the downed girl, never noticing that Naruto's wound was finishing closing, leaving only blood stains on his shirt to show he'd been hit at all. Kneeling over the girl, Freed dropped his gun and started forcefully kneading the girls' breast, making sure to do it painfully. "Even though they said I couldn't kill you, that means while I won't kill you, I can still do whatever I want to you, like rape is a possibl…" Freed didn't get to finish as a foot brutally slammed into and crushed his jaw, before he was sent sailing into the far wall.

"You just went from monster to roadkill with threatening my Little Goldie Locks." Naruto said with a menacing growl, his shirt and coat removed to cover the exposed girl's body. He had barely finished speaking when a bright red pentagram appeared on the floor of the room. Kicking up his last blade from the floor and sliding it into his pants pocket, he watched at the rest of Rias's Peerage appeared.

"Naruto, we came as soon as we felt the barrier. Are you okay?" Yuto asked.

"Fine Prep, just taking out some rapist, murdering scum." Naruto said with a dark cold tone of voice.

"Asia-chan?!" Akeno asked with clear worry in her voice, before her eyes went as dark as Naruto's. "So where's our new toy, Naruto-kun?" Lightning was freely dancing up her limbs at this point, as she looked to where Naruto was glaring.

"Fallen Angels." Koneko said loudly, carrying Asia in her arms protectively.

"Shit, give me one minute." Naruto said while he stepped back and started focusing on his teleportation spell, as he knew Rias and Akeno's spells only worked for Rias's Peerage, and her family.

"Naruto, my circle is faster." Rias said while rushing into the room, having missed what Naruto said about the priest.

"Not leaving Goldie here to get raped, Red, so help me or leave me here to fight." Naruto said stressfully, he was angry at Freed, and the Fallen for stopping him from dealing out the man's dues. He was slightly appeased though when he heard loud distorted cries of pain and zaps of electricity cutting through the air.

Rias's eyes widened before narrowing. Even if the girl had truly been with the church, she would not have left her to that fate. "How long?"

"40 seconds."

"Yuto, Koneko, start forming and throwing non-distinctive swords at the fallen. Don't hit them but get close enough to try and slow them down. When I say get back here quick, Akeno, one more hit then get back here." Rais order while she took hold of Asia and stepped close to Naruto's side.

"Hai!" All three called, while following her orders silently and quickly, Akeno knocking the badly burnt man out.

"NOW!" Rias cried out when Naruto nodded as he had everything set. Yuto grabbed Koneko and quickly raced back towards Naruto. When they were three feet away, the blonde released his spell, causing all six of the group to disappear in a blinding black flash.

* * *

The party reappeared in the backyard of Naruto's home with another flash of darkness, allowing Naruto to release a gasp of breath and drop to one knee. He may have had the power to keep fighting, but his control over his various energies was lacking, and with his Void Flames trying to consume all his other power sources, it often left him very drained.

"NARUTO!" The others yelled when they saw him fall.

The blonde waved them off as he pulled himself to his feet. "I'm okay, just tired. I was forced to rush, collecting magic to teleport us, so I used far more than normal." The boy said. "You okay, Goldie?"

Everyone turned to the crying girl that was curling herself into Rias, who had yet to release the girl. "H-hai." She replied with a shaky voice. The others could hear she was holding back tears, something that set everyone on edge, not sure what to expect from the girl.

Naruto, however, chose to handle it like he handled everything. Walking over to the girl, he laid one hand on her head, lightly ruffling her hair. "Hikari's inside, she will dig you up some clean clothes, let her know that you're here, then go get cleaned up. I'll start making something to eat for everyone."

Koneko and Rias could only deadpan at the boy, while Yuto groaned. Only Naruto would think that the best course of action to console someone after a traumatic event was to feed them. "And I'll make some cake for dessert. Buchou, did you move any of your movies here?" Akeno added.

Suddenly Rias realized what Akeno was doing, not sure if Naruto understood as he was already heading to start cooking. "Yes, a few, I'll go get some. Koneko-chan after you take Asia-chan to Hikari, could you set up the living room for a family movie night?"

"Hai, Buchou." The cat girl said while reaching to take the shocked nun from the redhead.

"F-f-fam-family?" The fragile nun asked her voice so quiet and weak the others barely even heard her. She couldn't stop the tears that streamed down her face as she saw the smiling faces that looked at her, before she crashed back into Rias's stomach once more crying loudly.

Rias simply smiled while hugging the girl. She was starting to realize just what Naruto had saw in the girl when he took her in. She wasn't just a nun, or lost when she came here; this little girl was just like Hikari. She was a pure, lonely, brokenhearted girl that needed a family and friends' support. Naruto extended the invitation that was offered to him by Koneko to this girl and now that Rias was seeing it, she wasn't about to back away from the invitation either. Asia needed this.

"OEI! ERO-OJJ-SAN GET OUT OF THE TUB, OTHERS NEED TO SHOWER!" Naruto's voice cut through the emotional atmosphere, causing even the overly emotional Aisa to release a watery giggle.

"NII-SAN YOUR BAC…" *BANG* Hikari's cried out, only to cut off with the sound something of slamming into a wall. "Owwie."

"I JUST GOT IN HERE, BRAT!" A new voice to the group called back, likely from Naruto's apparent Uncle they'd been informed about.

"HIKARI STOP RUNNING, ERO-JIJI JUST HURRY UP, I'M MAKING DINNER!" Naruto's voice pretty well caused everyone to shake off the mood and head towards the house.

Once everyone from the ORC and Hikari had sat down to dinner, a new face appeared in the room. Although Naruto easily could tell the man was still the Uncle he'd shown to the house, the man had changed more than a few of his looks. His hair was now completely blonde, and his goatee was gone. His face was younger looking, and his eyes were now an amber colour, allowing him to keep his lazy playboy like look, but anyone that didn't really know him wouldn't know he had any relationship to the fallen angel leader he truly was.

"Wow, you made it out of the tub before you turned into a prune, I'm impressed." Naruto said, dispelling any apprehension that could have build by the unknown man joining the dinner table with the group.

"Har har brat. I'll have you know that women like a man who takes care of his appearance. I bet he knows what I'm talking about." Azazel said as he pointed towards Yuto.

"Prep wakes up looking like, that perk of the pretty boy gene." Naruto said before Yuto could say anything for himself. "You on the other hand are just an old perv that is trying to impress girls less than half your age." Azazel dramatically clutched his chest in mock pain before he sat at the end of the table across from Naruto. "Okay Introduction. Everyone this is Ero-ojj-san, my perverted Uncle Az, he's my guardian and the co-signer on this house so I could buy it. Ero-jiji, these are my friends and roommates, Red, Sparky, Kitten, Prep and Goldie, you already know Hebi-imouto. Now everyone dig in." Naruto finished and turned to start eating, missing most of the groups sweat drops at his lack of any real names.

"Right, brat, like that's going to help anyone." Azazel said while shaking his head at how utterly lacking in manners the whiskered blonde could be. "My name is Seraph Azeal, it's a pleasure to meet you all." he finished with his most charming smile he could muster.

Rias put on an equally charming smile while she replied in kind. "My name is Gremory Rias, President of Naruto's school club. It's our pleasure to me you." She almost seemed to be finished speaking before she remembered what they all talked about to before coming here. Laying a hand on Naruto's forearm she smiled brilliantly at Azazel and closed her eyes to hide the mischief in them. "And I'm taken."

Azazel looked slightly confused by her statement about being taken but smiled at her none the less before looking to the person across from Rias; only briefly seeing a questioning look on Naruto's face. "Oh my, my turn? My name is Himajime Akeno, I'm the clubs vice-president." sliding up she hugged Naruto's left arm between her breast and smiled with a faint blush. "Also taken."

"Toujou Koneko, classmate, dislike perverts." Koneko said while staring hard at the man. "Taken by Naruto-sempai."

By now Azazel had an eyebrow twitching ' _What the hell did the brat tell them about me?_ ' He could tell by now that Naruto wasn't in on their joke, simply because of how confused the boy looked. Taking a deep breath, he looked to the other blonde boy.

"Kiba Yuto, nice to meet you." Yuto smiled perfectly while he prepared to drop the next bomb. "And I'm sorry to say, I'm only interested in girls." Now the man's eyebrow was continuously twitching dangerously.

"Ahno, My name is Argento Asia. It's very nice to meet you Seraph-sama." The blonde nun said nervously, once more in the clothing that Hikari had put her in before.

"She's also with Naruto-kun, Seraph-san." Akeno added quickly so that the joke didn't lose any speed.

"Oie! Brat, what the hell did you tell them about me?!" Azazel demained.

"Just the truth, ya old perv." Naruto said calmly.

"Fine." Azazel said before his face flipped with a proud grin and tears streaming from his eyes. "But you fulfilled my wish for you and built yourself a harem. You have no idea how proud I am of you." He declared while holding arm over his eyes crying loudly.

"And you wondered why I never tell you when parent day is?" Naruto asked flatly. With that, any reservations the group had about Naruto's guardian disappeared. Asia tried to stay quiet through most of the meal but was drawn into the conversation and jokes by the end of it. The after-dinner movies were a couple of Rias's more lighthearted anime movies and one drama movie that almost put the males to sleep. Only Naruto managed to stay awake through the whole thing because of his practice with chemistry class, and managed to wake Yuto with a yen piece.

It was near bed time that Naruto came to pull Asia away from the group and take her into his study, the only room the girls allowed to be totally his. "So, how you holding up, Goldie?" Naruto asked.

"I'm fine Naruto-san, thank you so much for taking me in again." Asia said, trying not to show anything.

"Goldie, I suck at handling and showing emotions, but I do know enough about the human mind to know that you are not fine. I didn't say anything before, mostly because I have a nasty temper, but after that, you need support. You are surrounded by friends here, we are all here to help you, we WANT to help you, but you need to let us." Naruto had sat down on the floor; as right now his study had little more than a single book shelf in it; and patted the space beside him. "I'm not about to tell you what you should and shouldn't feel. Gods know I haven't the foggiest, but I will tell you that you shouldn't hold back what it is that you do feel."

Asia sat down beside him, drawing comfort from his calm vigil. The oddly quiet dragon gave off an air of a stock guard, reminding her of the statues of guardian angel from the church. "Naruto-san, why did you take me with you? I know I've only caused you trouble." The girl asked in a voice so meek and fragile it sounded like a strong noise could break the girl to pieces.

Naruto leaned against the wall, trying to think of the lessons Akeno taught him, and Koneko corrected. He reached over and gently pulled the girl to his side. "Seriously, drop the -san, Goldie. As for causing me trouble, you've caused me the least trouble than any of the rest of this group." The boy said, as he sighed lightly, almost slipping into his mask again. "I took you because you're our Goldie. The others have already taken a liking to you, Hikari's mad about her new 'Nee-chan'. Besides, what kind of friend would I be if I just left you after what that jerk-off did and threatened to do?" Naruto asked rhetorically, not noticing the tears that were once more dribbling down the nun's cheeks as she looked up at the dragon boy who was staring at the ceiling. "The best thing I can think of is to quote Kitten when she talked me into sticking around 'Stay, you belong here, because we know what you feel.' Well, she said 'I' but I think you get the idea." Naruto said giving her a calm practiced, reassuring smile.

Asia couldn't take it and buried herself into his side, crying out her grief, worry, sadness and loneliness on the boy that she just knew understood. "This is your home, Asia." Were the last words the blonde girl heard before she fell asleep, hugging the blonde dragon boy.

* * *

Naruto couldn't tell if he should laugh or sigh at the sight before him. He'd decided to take Asia shopping for new clothes, as her suitcase had been left at the church when he had taken her back with him. When Azazel had heard his plans and that he could only afford a few things, as well as putting off getting more furniture for the house, the man had huffed and thrown a credit card with Naruto's name on it, at the boy. It apparently had a ten million yen limit so the boy could buy everything he'd need.

The trip started out fine. The girls insisted that, while he takes her out for the morning, they put off getting clothes until after lunch. While he was reluctant, he was forced to agree because Rias was the one that was covering for him. Most of the morning went quickly. All the beds, dressers, desks, tables, chairs and couches would be delivered later that day with Azazel signing off on them. He'd even found himself a perfect couch for his Study so if the girls took over his bed, he'd had a place to sleep.

After doing most of the furniture shopping, including making sure to have everything that Asia could ever want in a bedroom, Naruto had taken her to an arcade. They'd spent a good couple of hours just treating themselves to junk food and having as much fun as they could, though even Asia noticed Naruto's horrible abilities at video games. Any game that had physical abilities required he excelled at, digital abilities and he'd fail in moments. She didn't see him using ninja wire in a snare to steal the Ratchu-kun she wanted from the machine outside while she was looking at the photo-booth.

It was around 1 o'clock when the others showed up to join them, Rias having gotten them all out of class for the day somehow. This was the event that lead to Naruto's current situation, Yuto and him were now wandering from store to store following the group of girls. The troupe bought pretty well every outfit they could find, making sure that Asia had at least three times as many, as well as having several outfit set aside for Hikari upon their return.

"I really should have brought a book." The whiskered blonde muttered to himself, while he sat in a chair at the front of a lingerie store with the smaller blonde boy.

"At least I don't have to suffer alone this time." Yuto muttered back, as he was fairly used to this sort of thing happening with Rias.

"You just gained a whole new level of respect from me, Prep." Naruto whispered quietly, giving a practiced smile to the workers and the girls as they came into view.

"I'm surprised you've stayed this long."

"I'm paying, I have to stay." Naruto replied before deciding to add. "Plus Rias threatened to send Ero-jiji a note saying when parent's day is this year if I run."

Yuto winced. "Harsh."

"Yes but I will find a counter soon enough." Naruto stated with finality. The two boys fell into silence for a few minutes, simply watching as Rias and Akeno started overwhelming the young Nun with different combinations of bras and panties before pushing her into a stall to try them on. "Tonight after dinner, You, Kitten and I will head out to the woods for some training. You have until then to back out."

Yuto's eyes hardened with memories of his past as he clenched his fist tightly. "I won't."

"You may regret that." Naruto said, his eyes had a distant look in them. "But you'll either make it or break."

"Good, that's exactly how I want it."

Naruto's grin took on a vulpine look "That you will regret." The gleam in Naruto's eyes truly made Yuto wonder about both their sanity; Naruto's because of the gleam, his own for asking this man to train him.

* * *

Yuto was sprawled out across the forest floor with his shirt removed. He was dripping with sweat, his face red from exertion. His arms trembled as he yet again tried to make the move so he could try to stand. Naruto had been right, he really was starting to regret this training. However, he would NOT give up.

Once they had returned from their shopping trip, both boys had gone to work, moving the furniture into the proper room, though the princely blonde did get a good laugh when Rias and Akeno spent a good 20 minutes lecturing the whiskered blonde for not getting a bed for his room. Naruto couldn't even get a word in edgewise. No matter what he tried to say, he was steamrolled over by the feminine pair. By the time the two were finished with him, Rias had already gotten on the phone and was ordering a king sized full bed and bedding set to be delivered to the house the next day.

All the girls looked really happy and excited over the dinner table, which had been ordered in as both Naruto; who normally cooked, and Akeno; one of the only two people allowed to cook everyone meals, were both tired out from the shopping trip and moving everything in. If nothing else, this calmed any frayed nerves Naruto had gotten from being lectured about his choice of sleeping accommodations.

After eating and cleaning up, something that Asia all but demanded she be allowed to do, Naruto had gotten Yuto and Koneko to follow him into the wooded area behind the house. Which is what lead to Yuto's current position; trapped on the ground with a mark on his chest that matched Naruto's own, only with the number three instead of fifteen. Naruto had explained the number was equal to the number of times gravity was increased around the subject. It was no wonder the blonde bastard was so much stronger than him.

After setting up his training method and an objective of being able to walk back to the house on his own, Naruto had gotten Koneko to follow him and left ear shot. While the blonde knight knew they were still able to see him, or at least had some way of tracking him, it still annoyed him that the other blonde had made a point of taking off his shirt so that he could see the fifteen on his chest while he told him about the training.

Once the two had left Yuto to his training, though only far enough to remain unheard, they had sat near a tree to observe. Within a few minutes, mostly filled with Naruto's slight snickering at Yuto's loud cursing, Koneko finally broke the silence. "Naruto-sempai, why did you call me out here?"

"To start Kitten, I think it's only fair I share a little bit of my story with you." Naruto said while he still watched Yuto trying to get up. "As you didn't catch me, you don't get to fire any and every question you want at me that I have to answer, but I can answer some. Like for one, yes I have Chakra. But where I come from, my Chakra is considered Demonic Chakra because it has an acidic property when used with dark emotions. All emotions affect the Chakra I use because it's formed naturally and completely inside of me, unlike what I learned the youkai here use, which is formed mostly outside the body and by command."

Koneko's eyes widened as she heard him answer the question she had that started their bet. "Why?" Although she wanted to know the answer to so many of her questions, she knew that she hadn't even gotten close to winning her end of the bet.

"Two reasons. One, you showed trust in me for no reason, even when knowing next to nothing about me. Two, I need a counter balance. My abilities are massively offensive and I'm developing more than a few supplement spells and what not. However, I'm majorly lacking in defense both of self and of others, something that was proven to me yesterday." Naruto explained, a sad look coming to his face as he remembered how useless he was to defend Asia. He had power to fight, to destroy anything he wanted but he couldn't use any of it to defend what was dear to him. He was cut from his thoughts, before they could get self berating, when Koneko decided to hug his side.

"What we are all here for." The girl said while she released her ears and tails, reminding him that he wasn't alone in anything anymore.

Smiling slightly down at the girl, Naruto nodded and pressed on. "I won't go into too much detail, as it's both a long story and you need reason to catch me still." Koneko poked him in the side again for making her still chase after him, though she was glad she still had more chances to get all the answers she wanted; and he wasn't going to just tell her out of pity that she lost. "Though I did grow up here in Japan, it was actually my second time growing up, something that until I died I didn't know about."

"Reincarnation?" The white haired cat girl asked, surprise clear for all to see.

"I'm not sure if it really counts as that as I didn't die, just came damn close and had my memories locked away." Naruto said, his head tilted to the side and up slightly while he thought about it, making him stare off into space blankly while he considered her question.

"How?"

Naruto turned back to her with a smirk playing on his lips. "That's another story from today's talk." he said, basically telling her she'd have to wait to get the answer to her question. "For now we'll say my partner saved me at a cost." the blonde said while he looked away from the pouting cat girl.

"Baka." Koneko said while looking away, the pout very predominant on her face and in her voice.

The whiskered blonde couldn't help but chuckle about how cute she looked, even muttering it aloud causing the girl to blush. Once he had himself under control again, he looked back at the still struggling princely blonde in front of them. "I will tell you three major things for now Kitten. One is all the training I'm putting Prep through; and you if you want it, are things I remember from my homeland. The next thing is, I got the money for the house by republishing something that came from my world. The last is, I have barely even scratched the surface of my real memories. I've gotten some of my skills back through luck, but for the most part, I barely remember past ten from my old life, and even that is choppy."

Koneko moved completely into his lap, seated forwards to look at the knight that had finally made it into a seated position. "Ichi ichi?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but do I want to know why the pervert hater knows about that porn book?" Knowing she was guessing about how he got the money.

"Akeno-sempai has a copy." The cat girl explained. "Why did you have one?"

"There are 11 volumes; the one I printed was dedicated to his godson." Naruto said while he wrapped one arm around the girls' waist so she didn't slip. "Not sure why I had them, but it was sealed inside my arm with some other things."

"Perverts." The girl muttered to herself.

"At least it can be used to help us." Naruto said, thinking about how the books were going to help him taking care of his friends and family. He was behind Koneko as both watched Yuto tried to make it to his feet so the whiskered blonde missed her blush as she thought of the other meaning to his 'us'.

They sat in silence for another hour watching the working blonde boy; he'd made it to his feet a few times but never made it more than a step towards the house before he fell again. At the end of an hour Naruto finally decided that he'd seen enough to know this part was going to take awhile, and approached the exhausted prince, carrying Koneko in his arms. "Kai." The larger boy said, holding one hand in front of him with his index and middle finger up while the rest were closed as if in an unfinished fist, causing the gravity holding Yuto to release.

Once the force holding him down was gone; Yuto once more fell to the ground from trying to over balance himself. "Wahh!" his yell stopped when he planted his face in the dirt once more. "You're an ass, you know that?" The blonde swordsmen grumbled out around the face full of dirt.

"Want me to leave it on?"

"Gah, no." Came the quick reply. Yuto was on his feet in an instant, ready to run if he had to.

"Good, now come on, starting tomorrow, you train at three till you can move but from after school until bed, you'll have at least level 2 on at all times." Naruto explained.

"Sadist." Yuto muttered.

"You asked me to."

"Shut up." Yuto said in an almost sulking tone. He did not need a reminder of his stupidity.

"Be nice." Koneko added with a poke to his ribs. Naruto said nothing as he led the three back to the house. The smirk on his face however said all that needed to be known about what he thought.

* * *

The rest of the week had passed pretty easily, and before anyone realized it was Friday afternoon. Asia was set to registered to start school the coming Monday, Naruto had also finished the temporary transformation spell for Hikari, so she was going to be starting to learn to walk with legs starting this weekend. Azazel had also left his house around noon today, saying he had some business he needed to take care of but he'd be back in a couple of weeks to visit, and that he'd be in the area for a few months so to get used to him being around.

None of the others had found out who Azazel really was; something he was going to ask the man the second he got a chance, however after the first dinner none had stopped making jokes at his expense, though none went without retaliation. Akeno had the most fun with Azazel, as they would often be seen trading barbs whenever they ran into each other. They all agreed that he was an easy person to get along with, and the Fallen Angel had agreed that they were a fun bunch.

The gay jokes made by Yuto were the worst or best depending on whom you ask. Due mostly to his pretty boy looks; as Naruto like to call them, Yuto was followed by as many gay rumors by jealous guys as he was by fan-girls. Because of this, the blonde knight knew quite a few gay jokes that he was once the butt of. Seeing the almost vicious smile on the boy's face when he would walk away, after sending a few at the older man, made most of them in the house laugh harder than the jokes.

Naruto's good mood died when he and the rest returned home from school to find the front door to his house blasted in and a knocked-out Lamia lay out across the hallway floor. They all rushed in to see what happened, Yuto running throughout the house to see what was missing and if he could find Asia. Rias was beside Naruto, healing and looking over Hikari, while Akeno and Koneko secured the area. It only took a few short minutes for both Yuto and the other girls to return, all with hard looks in their eyes. "Asia is missing. Everything else is here, but they destroyed some things." Yuto reported with a harsh tone.

Naruto grinded his teeth together, while Rias's eyes grew cold to match the others. "I see. Akeno?"

The dark haired girl moved forwards, her face a mask of fury and hate. She slowly raised one of her white knuckled fists, turning it and revealing the contents. It showed several black feathers that were far too large to be from any birds in the area. "They all have Fallen Angel energy still remaining in them, Buchou."

"How many?" Naruto asked through his clenched jaw, his chakra had already made his eyes red and he was just barely holding it in from surrounding him.

"Ten by my and Koneko's count." Akeno said, looking equally ready to kill.

"We go?" Koneko asked, the edge in her tone clear. This made Rias look up in shock, while the others would have, had they not been equally as angry. While she knew that Koneko had taken to the pure and innocent girl, she hadn't realized just how close she and the others had gotten with Asia. For even the normally monotone girl, to gain such a hard tone of voice and be willing to go against an unknown number of enemies for the nun, surprised the red-haired king.

Rias pulled her hands away from the snake girl, having a thoughtful look on her face. Keeping her own anger at bay was difficult. "Shortly, we don't know where they are or what they want."

"They got what they wanted, Red. Now they're taking it out of her." Naruto said, his voice a cracking growl, sounding less human then even in his normal anger.

Rias blinked "What do you mean, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto turned his hard red silted eyes to the girl, who had enough experiences with them to hold back a flinch, simply by knowing he wasn't directing his anger at her. "They knew she was here, they felt the energies and barriers you put up at this place. She wouldn't be worth fighting over if they just wanted her. They knew about her Sacred Gear and likely plan to take if from her."

"Are you sure?"

"Take away the loss of life for a moment, you found a way that could give you more power and better support. However, the method is held by your enemy nearby. Now you have a single chance to claim it before it becomes out of reach and by doing so, you can really piss off your enemy and you think they won't try to take the power back. What would you do?" Naruto asked coldly. He was starting to call slight amounts of his flames to him, cooling his anger enough to think clearer.

"If it wasn't likely to start a war or get anyone hurt then most likely, yes." Rias admitted, rubbing her sore eyes. "Naruto, we need to plan this carefully."

"Gone." Koneko said simply. She was pulling on a set of blue fingerless hard back gloves with pink paw prints on the back.

Rias looked over the rest of her Peerage all ready to go, waiting only on her word, each looking like they would be clawing their way through the floor or walls if she didn't give the order to follow Naruto. "Let's get Hikari-chan off the floor then go chase down our wayward Dragon… again." Yuto and Koneko rushed in and picked the girl up off the floor to move to the couch, while Akeno prepared a teleportation circle to get them as close to the church as they could get.

Naruto sailed through the air as he jumped from building to building with such speed nobody would see anything but a blur. He'd released his gravity seal before he'd left, Yuto's hadn't been activated yet today so he'd be fine if they did get there before he was completely finished with this. Following the trails of light energy, one of which he remembered seeing a few nights back, from the guy that had been attacking Issei.

Wisps of black flames formed around his feet as Naruto's speed doubled. His first priority was to get Asia out of where ever they'd taken her. Then he'd go back to bring about Oblivion to them all. ' _Ninja now, Dragon later._ ' the boy repeated to himself in his mind, controlling his desire to rage in and burn everything between him and the blonde nun.

Naruto finally stopped as he landed in one of the trees that grew inside the crumbling stone wall around the church grounds. Taking in the massive amounts of energies mixed in the building, Naruto was forced to stop the chakra that was flowing into his eyes so he could look over the architecture. The building itself wasn't too large, just a little bigger then a two story house with a bell tower off to one side, near the middle of the main building. Open air covered walkways came out of the back of the church on either side, leading to three smaller barracks-like buildings in the back of the lot of land. The church building had many large stained glass windows on either side of the building and eight foot high solid looking double doors for the main entrance.

Looking the building over, he could already tell the main door was locked tight, so any attempts to get in that way would make them aware of his presence before he was ready. He needed to sneak in and get Asia out before any fighting took place. Turning on his energy sight again, he looked the building over before he noticed something he hadn't seen when he arrived due to all the mixing energies blurring together.

There was an underground cavern just below where the church stood, and it had a couple of entrances to the tunnels. One near the back of the church that had several people wandering back and forth through it. Two were connected to the barracks in the back, which had a dozen people moving through it, and the one he was focused on at the moment was directly below where the bell tower stood. The reason for him focusing on this entrance was because he could use the tower as his way into the church itself, before he tried getting into the caverns. It also seemed to be the route of least priority, as there was only one person walking through it.

Catching a flash of red in the corner of his sight made Naruto look towards the city and he almost cursed. Rias had come sooner the he thought she would. While having back up would be great if he was going to storm the place, he couldn't count on keeping Asia out of the crossfire like she had almost been during the fight with Freed.

' _Ninja now, Dragon later._ ' Naruto repeated one more time before he shot himself out of the tree he'd been in and onto the roof of the church. Landing silently from chakra in the soles of his feet, he rushed over to the wall of the tower and used his surface-walking chakra training to run up it. Dropping in the hole cut into the floor where the rope that rings the bell should be, the Ninja applied chakra to his hands and carried himself to a wall once more. Running down the wall, instead of the staircase that wound around the tower walls, Naruto touched ground again in seconds. Checking his surroundings, he could already see his club mates' energies moving closer fast, and he could see the man in the underground was almost directly below him as well, and it was that annoying fallen he'd face before.

Spying the needed door to head into the underground, Naruto moved toward it before hopping above it to wait for it to open, pulling two kunai from his sleeve into reverse grips. The moment the fedora-wearing being stepped out the door, the ninja above him swung his arms down as quickly as he could, causing the ring ends of the knifes to slam into the man's temples; knocking the fallen out before he even knew he was in danger.

Realizing he'd forgot most of his gear in the hidden compartment of his desk at home, Naruto stripped the man of his long coat and cut it into strips. Within seconds of removing the coat from the man, Naruto had him bound and gagged and was running down the stairs heading to where he could see Asia's pure energy emanating out. He'd just rounded one of the corners when he heard a loud crash from upstairs, causing more than a few of the priests and 6 of the fallen angels in the room to start running towards another one of the exits.

' _Well at least I'll know where they are most of the time._ ' Naruto thought sarcastically, while he started to draw his flames to cover his body. He only had enough over him that he was far harder to see in the dark, while at the same time the room was flooded with the emptiness he always invoked.

"What's going on?" One of the Fallen yelled out as he saw many of the priests start to mess up their chats, most were outright shivering from fear.

"Are the devils causing this?" Another fallen asked as her long green hair swung back and forth behind her rapidly turning head.

Soon the whole room was filled with mutters and fearful whispers. Naruto used this confusion and disorder to creep closer. Just as he was close enough to see Asia strapped to a large metal cross with wires running to it, he saw another Fallen Angel step up and start yelling.

"ENOUGH! This is simply a trick to make us slow down so they'll have time to come and stop the ritual. We need not stop, the devils won't make it in time to stop us. Continue the rite!" The larger man yelled, as six large black feathered wings could be seen from his back. The man was releasing an extraordinary amount of killing intent. His jet black hair was long enough to reach his mid-chest and looked mildly unkempt, while his red eyes had an insane gleam that made you feel like he would try to kill you simply for looking at him.

Everyone in the room fell silent at the man yelled, and started getting back to what they were doing before. Naruto wanted to curse at the man ruining the confusion, but pushed the impulse down while he pulled as many smoke bombs as he had on him. Feeling slightly vindictive for ruining a good chance, the blonde shot the first of the bombs straight into the red-eyed man's face. The rest hit the ground, filling the underground room with a thick plume of smoke; visibility was reduced to zero causing even more panic and confusion than the aura the black flames caused.

The next words heard over the large amount of coughing soon caused even more confusion and disorder. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With the release of his clones into the cloud, the original Naruto rushed to Asia's side to free the nun. Due to his advanced energy sight, he could make out where he was heading easily and soon was cutting the wires from the back of the cross to free the girl. As the last wire was cut, the girl fell away from where she hung, right into the waiting arms of a clone; which quickly cover her mouth. "Shh! Goldie it's me, Naruto. Stay quiet, we're getting out of here." he whispered into her ear.

The girl nodded happily into the clone's hand, while he felt tears roll against his fingers. The clone holding her made his way back to the bell tower exit, while the original made towards the exit that lead into the main part of the church, his kunai back in hand and lashing out at anything that came to close to him. He may not be able to attack flat out because Asia was still in the building, but he no longer had to worry if they knew he was there because she was being evacuated. He just hoped Raynare had enough common sense to avoid fighting. Azazel would be pissed if she died and she was too prideful to simply run away, and he couldn't bring himself to care if he was killing those around him or not. None of them were devils, and Asia was still moving away from him.

Reaching a doorway that he assumed led to a stair case up, Naruto kicked the passageway open, allowing a billow of smoke to escape with his body. Flames danced up and down his body as he turned his head back into the room. "Come." Naruto declared before walking forwards up the stairs, fighting back an urge to make a longer statement ' _I think Red's and Uncle's flare for the dramatic is starting to wear off on me._ '

Naruto walked calmly up the stairs, as he could see the energies through the walls to know that Yuto and Koneko were still going strong in their fight. However, he could feel that although the strongest of them was still in the smoke-filled chamber behind him, Rias and Akeno had their hands full in the back lot of the church. As he ascended the stairs, he couldn't help but notice two amusing things happen in the fight above him. The aura he'd been flooding the building with was finally reaching the surface as he could see the three fallen that Yuto and Koneko fighting start to slow down. His friends; who were now getting used to the feelings that came with his aura however, start to speed up.

Reaching the entrance that hid the stairwell, Naruto dug one of his hands into the wood and pushed it aside, not bothering to destroy it or look for the handle. All fighting stopped as the podium was thrown sideways away from the stairs it hid, while swirls of black fire could be made out through the wave of thick smoke rushing out from the underground. Even Yuto and Koneko, knowing who it was, had to take a second to push away the thought of how evil his entrance made the dragon boy look. His glowing red eyes could be seen through the black flames and gray smoke, while his foot falls made a slight crunching noise from the broken glass and wood from their fight.

Naruto silently looked over the five as smoke thickened the air in the room before it escaped through the smashed windows. Through slow, measured steps the flame covered blonde made his way to the two other devil, taking in every detail around him until he saw a flash of gold disappearing into the forest. "Prep, Kitten, we need to make this quick, my fight's coming and you're needed by Red and Sparky." Naruto said in a quiet monotone voice, sending chills down the black winged angels' spines as they floated above the devils.

The Knight and cat girl nodded their consent before falling into their respective battle stances, the blonde swordsmen summoning a second sword as he did so. "Don't take us lightly!" One of the angels yelled at the group. The group started summoning a large amount of light spears to rain down on the devils and dragon, angered that this new flame-coated boy would brush them off so easily. "I am Morax of the Fallen Angels. Remember that as you d…AHHHHH!"

His introduction was stopped as he fell to the floor below, one of his wings completely missing from his back. "No one asked your name." Everyone turned to look where the voice had spoken from the other side of the angel group. Standing and looking at them was Naruto, the flames had receded away from his head and torso to cover only his hands, forearms and feet; his blonde hair waved lazily in an unnatural wind while he held the missing angel wing out to the side in his left hand. With the flames gone, his glare at the Fallen had become even more intimidating, as the other two female fallen angels looked visibly shaken by his speed and ferocity. "Leave now or die here. Choose."

The Black-haired angel looked at her blue-haired companion, the look clearly saying she had no intention of sticking around. "Karawarner, I don't know about you, but I'm out of here."

"Raynare!? You can't be serious, they just a couple of low-class devils!" The blue haired women tried to say.

"Those two, maybe." The black haired angel said while waving at the blonde knight and white haired rook. "But that THING is no devil." Raynare said while pointing clearly at Naruto as he tossed the wing away, his glare never wavering from the two. "I didn't see or feel him when he took Morax's wing. Did you? If we stay, we are dead, and I didn't sign up to die here." With her piece said, Raynare turned and flew out an open window opposite where the clone had taken Asia to hide.

Karawarner looked back and forth between the devils and the window that Raynare had disappeared from before making her decision. With a sneer on her face, she dispelled all but one of her spears, "I guess fighting isn't really a choice, but at least I can get payback." The blue-haired women said with a bite in her tone. She then threw the spear with all her might, stabbing it right through the heart of the fallen Morax. "I warned you to keep your hands off me. Bastard."

With her revenge complete, she bowed lightly to the three remain beings in the room before taking off to follow Raynare, leaving a confused trio blinking in her wake. "Well, that was unexpected." Yuto said, confused by both the retreat and the blue-haired woman's exiting bow. Koneko nodded in agreement, as she couldn't even think of anything to say.

"Odd as it was, and coming from me that means it was really odd, you two need to help Red while I hold the others back." Naruto said, shaking the two out of their daze.

"Right. We'll be back as soon as we can." Yuto said as he and Koneko ran out the door to reinforce their king.

The two had just made it outside when Naruto dodged left while slashing backwards with a kunai in his right hand. "Thanks for letting them leave."

"You were the one that interrupted the ritual. Low class filth can easily be dealt with later." The seething six winged man growled out, a few of his feathers falling to the floor from Naruto's kunai.

"You say that like you can escape Oblivion to have a later." Naruto stated in a cold tone.

"Oh, the little devil thinks he can beat me?" The man said mockingly. "I am Mastema, what is your name, little devil?"

The flames around his arms and feet started growing in intensity as Naruto slipped into a fighting stance. "Maelstrom, and I am no devil." The whiskered blonde declared as he released his draconic wings and shot towards Mastema, black flames trailing in his wake.

* * *

Rias panted as she glared at the three Fallen Angels that she and Akeno were fighting, two of which had four wings each, shooting from their backs. While the fight had started off pretty evenly, Akeno and her having worked on covering each other's weaknesses a great deal since the Death Worm, the three on two fight soon started to show who had the better chances.

In a war of attrition, which this fight had become, those with the greater reserves and stamina will always win. With their enemy outnumbering them, plus an average four winged angel is equal to high mid-class, low high-class devils in terms of magical power, and the situation was not looking good for the Priestess or Thunder and the Red-Haired Ruin Princess.

She had felt the aura of emptiness from Naruto start to seep into the air moments ago, as both Akeno and she were on high alert in case more back up showed up for their opponents or if any of their allies needed help. "Buchou, what are we going to do? He is coming, but these two are not the strongest ones here." Akeno whispered as she stood near her King, just as tired as the redhead but not at all ready to give up.

Rias quickly formed a wall out of her power of destruction, stopping a hail of spears from the trio of angels. "We need to hold out, Naruto's on the surface now, he'll deal with his end then we escape." Rias said, not wanting to have to keep fighting, as she knew she'd lose. While she knew Naruto was stronger than them in pure power, she didn't know how strong he was going all out, and as she'd grown up with her abilities, she believed she had more experience in fighting than the boy.

Akeno nodded and formed an array of casting circles in front of her, just inside the wall her friend had made, preparing to release a wide area blast of thunder magic the second the wall fell. Once Rias felt her wall was no longer being pelted with Spears of light, she let it fall and gave her black haired friend a nod. No sooner were the circles visible to the fallen did they start releasing blasts of thunder at the trio.

Rias chanced a glance at the church while the blasts were happening, just in time to see a fallen flying out of it through one of the upper windows. The being didn't even glance their way before it started to run from the church yard as quickly as possible. Rias blinked in surprise, as she was sure they would have tried to help take them out. She couldn't even finish that thought before a second Fallen, one with blue hair this time, followed the first, disappearing into the sky of the setting sun.

"Akeno, two of the Fallen just retreated. Hold on a little longer, I'm betting help will be here for us soon." Rias said as she started sending balls of her family magic to join her Queen's thunder.

"Sucker bet Buchou." Akeno said, sweat dripping down her face as she continued her onslaught. She had managed to just catch the two winged angel and was now splitting her attention between keeping the other two away while taking the third out of this fight for good. "I know better than play poker with Ghosty and expect to win."

"Yet you keep trying to get him to play?" Rias asked, feeling a bit more lighthearted now that she was sure she could feel Yuto and Koneko coming their way. She built up as strong of an attack as she could and aimed the blast towards the weaken Fallen Angel.

"Ufufu Strip Poker Buchou, you know how Ghosty likes western games." The black haired girl said mischievously.

"WHAT!" The Redhead yelled, surprise causing her to release both a larger blast than she had intended, as well as releasing it sooner then she expected, still killing her target though. She completely ignored this as she stared at her Queen in shock.

"Ufufu, I'll teach you to play after we win this, if you like?" Akeno said with a chuckle, while reminding the redhead now wasn't the time to be getting distracted. They all remembered last time.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, Rias quickly refocused on the two remaining Fallen Angels, while watching her knight and rook charge into the battle field to help even the odds of the fight. The added support allowed the tired girls a chance to regain some of their breath. They now could use single point attacks, as wide area ones could also hit their comrades.

As the battle was rejoined, a new attack pattern formed with them, each close range fighter focused on one target while the ranged fighters supported them and looked for an opportunity to go for the kill. While it was more pressure on the close combat fighters, as they were more susceptible to be hurt, it allowed the tired wizard types to regain their energy.

The four were starting to regain ground on the Fallen Angels, as they now not only had better team tactics but more fighters as well. There was a pause however when everyone felt as if their stomach dropped out of them. Waves of hopelessness and despair flooded their battlefield, followed by an enormous wave of light energy, one that was laced with a feeling of wrath. The Fallen Angels could only shiver in slight fright, while the devils stared at the church in awe. This amount of power coming from Naruto had only been felt by Koneko on the night where he argued with Sona, but the Light energy was much bigger than the dragon boy's.

Koneko, however much she wanted, didn't look away from the angel she'd been fighting when the wave hit. As such, she noticed his distracted state and used it to her advantage. Charging in, the white haired girl jumped up to the right side of him and delivered a spinning kick to his face as hard as she could. Distracted and tired from the long fight, the four winged man wasn't able to defend himself and was sent directly into his companion, causing both to fall to the ground below.

Yuto spun back to attention just as the two crashed into each other. Using their disorientation from both impacts to his advantage, the blonde knight called upon the power of his Sacred Gear: Sword Birth to create a long two handed blade with Lightning power. The moment the two hit the ground, he rushed forward and stabbed them both through the stomach, effectively; if temporarily, pinning the pair to the ground. "Buchou! Akeno-sempai! Now!" The boy yelled before he jumped as far away as he could.

The two girls wasted no time in moving on the call, locking on and releasing the largest attacks they could on the two pinned Fallen Angels. When the blast cleared, nothing of the two remained. However the group was given no time to relax as, at that moment, the wall of the church was blown apart and a rocket of black flames flew from the side.

* * *

Minutes ago with Naruto.

Red glowing, chakra covered kunai clashed against a purple broad sword of light inside the church, as Naruto and Mastema fought with skill and power. Naruto's Void flames completely covered his wings as he clashed against the strong fallen angel. He had to use them repeatedly to fend off spears of light that Mastema would summon and sling at him, even while engaging in close combat.

Naruto was pulling tricks of his own, he would often replace himself with hunks of wood that that were scattered around the battle field and stab at the man's unguarded back. He'd even used his teleportation spell a few times, as the momentary flash of blackness could be used to disorient the Fallen Angel for a moment so Naruto could score a hit or two.

However, so far nothing was giving either being their desired win, Mastema would use his wings to shield against most attack, a shield that Naruto could not cut through; while Naruto's flames would consume anything that came in contact with them unless the boy directed them not to. While Naruto was sure he could eat through the wings with the acidic nature his Chakra could take, or with his void flame, both options would take more time than his opponent would give him. Healing the stabs he'd already received was painful enough, but he was sure not even his regeneration could heal a removed head.

"Hah, you are not without the ability to back your words young dev… no Maelstrom." Mastema said while he breathed deeply, exacerbated from the fight. Naruto noticed his hits on the man had done some damage. Not much, but the man was not unscathed.

"A Dragon cannot be called such without the power to back up their title. While I am a young Dragon-kin, I'm a still of the blood." Naruto said slowly, while he wasn't normally one to talk with such arrogance, he had learned why Rias normally did her speeches. Using facts in such a way that it could plant seeds of doubt in an enemy's mind, making them misjudge something, and make a mistake. He then started releasing a great deal more of his flames, covering both his arms and legs in them once more, as well as increasing the auras affect as high as he consciously could.

Mastema grinned insanely and released his powers fully, making the ground tremble as the opposing forces clashed. "Good... Great… Show it to me! Show me the power of a DRAGON!" The insane man screamed before he suddenly appeared before Naruto and threw as hard a punch as he could at the boy's face.

Naruto had just managed to get his arms up to block the punch but the force behind it had caught him off guard and launched him through the wall behind him, into the side yard of the church grounds. His flight ended in a flame lined trench in the ground that made Naruto release a quiet groan. While the broken bones from the punch had already mended themselves, that had still hurt far more then he liked. He wasn't given any more time as he kicked the dirt below him in order to give himself a jump and avoid being skewered as Mastema appeared, his sword piercing the ground, just as Naruto vacated the spot.

Already above the man, Naruto threw out a set of flame coated Kunai at the angel while he used his wings to control his landing. Mastema swatted the blades away with his wings as he turned to where his opponent landed and rushed him, swinging his blade to remove the boy's head. Ducking under the sword, Naruto shot a fist for the man's stomach, only to have it block by a knee.

Pushing off the knee with his fist, Naruto spun himself out of the way of Mastema's descending blade. Rising while continuing his spin, the blonde lashed out with a high kick that was blocked by two of the man's wings.

This back and forth continued at speeds the normal human eye couldn't follow, meaning the devil group watched blurs of movement, and sparks of flame and purple light flashing across the field. To most, the fight looked almost even, however both Naruto and Mastema knew the boy was losing. He was always moving back, countering when he could and trying to misdirect the Fallen to try and land a hit. The fight, which started almost at the front of the church yard, had finally started to reach the back area when the two jumped apart.

"What happened, boy!? Where is your great power of the Dragon?" Mastema yelled, the insanity on his face having grown while the two fought. "Where is this Oblivion your promised me?! Was it all talk? Or maybe I need to motivate you to show it? Hmm?"

"You will meet your Oblivion by my hand, Mastema." Naruto called, his panting breath returning to normal quickly.

"I don't think so, not as you are now." Mastema shot back with a laugh, before he held an open hand towards the shocked devils. A massive casting circle appeared before his outstretched hand while he still looked at Naruto. "Maybe if I kill some of these devils you're so fond of, you'll show me this supposed power?" The man said with a loud laugh.

Naruto wasn't even given time to speak before the Fallen Angel released a beam of power towards the shocked group, that were just in hearing range of the two. Naruto forced everything he could into getting between the beam and Koneko, who stood at the front of the devils. Chakra burnt in his veins as it forced his muscles to obey. His magic surrounded his body, removing resistance from his path, allowing him to go beyond his limits. His Void flames consumed the extra energies and heeded their master's desire, seeming to pull him even faster into the way of the energy blast.

The beam was little more than two feet from the white-haired cat girl, already starting to cause burns to her skin slightly when Naruto appeared between them. Roaring flames of the blackest night raged around him as he held back the light energy, however it was clear that he wouldn't be able to for long, as his feet were sliding backwards from the force.

' _NO! I WILL NOT LOSE!_ ' The boy yelled within his mind as he dug his feet into the ground. He called every bit of energy he could to try and beat the beam, which had almost tripled in size as Mastema had realized it was Naruto holding it back.

"JUST DIE, YOU WORTHLESS DRAGON!" The mad fallen angel screamed over his beam while he poured his power into the attack.

Rage filled Naruto's mind as his Chakra split itself between reinforcing the ground he was holding himself on, and strengthening his body to hold back the beam. His magic and Flames both went into trying to overpower the Light attack, but he could see it was starting to lose. He needed more. Desperately, he dug into himself to force more energy out.

Everyone heard it as a loud **Crack** resounded throughout the courtyard, and with it came waves of flames that darkened everything around them and a deep reverberating roar ripped its way from the boy's throat. Pain coursed through the whiskered blonde's body, the likes of which he could never remember feeling before. He felt his body changing, his incisor teeth lengthened and became sharper, the skin around his eyes tightened and hardened as it did on his feet and hands. The nails on his fingers and toes grew into the tips of his digits, making them hard and removing all feeling from them, before growing out into claws or talon. As quickly as the pain and changes had started they stopped, and the flames started feeding on the beam even faster, Naruto didn't care though. He didn't care how much he hurt, or that he was losing bits of his humanity with these powers. All he cared about was the man at the other end of this light tried to hurt his family, and that he had to die.

The ORC could only watch in shocked horror as Naruto started moving through the beam of light with his right hand extended, his black flames consuming the energy before it could reach them. His shirt was completely disintegrated by the power from the beam, spots of skin starting to do the same across the boy's chest and arms, but the spots healed just as fast as they appeared. Suddenly, Naruto stopped walking and shot forward at such a speed that the beam of Light exploded, blinding everyone for just a moment. When their vision returned to them, they saw Naruto standing before fallen angel, his black-flame-covered hand stabbed clear through the left side of the other man's chest, destroying his opponent's heart.

"Go now, Oblivion calls for you." Naruto whispered into the dying man's ear.

"I hear it, Maelstrom, Dragon of Oblivion." Mastema whispered back before his eyes lost all light and the flames consumed his body. This was the last sight Naruto saw that day as his eyes rolled up in his head, the pain he had felt overpowered his mind and caused him to pass out.

To be Continued.


	7. Familiar Trials

34

Disclaimer: I own some popcorn, I think? Maybe?

AN: I'd like to thank Hurricanelaurk for him Beta reading this, along with Dadlop3, and SC CloudStrife and his wife for helping me through my Writers Block and giving me ideas; along with Blaze1992 and Dadlop3.

Trying Again 7

Familiar Trials.

One crystalline blue eye twitched open, only to blink closed again with a groan. Everything hurt right now for the young dragon-kin; his skin felt like it had been peeled off than glued back on, his fingers felt like they'd been broken repeatedly, all his joins hurt, his throat was raw even his hair hurt right now. Knowing he was going to need at least a few minutes to recover enough to move again, Naruto tried to get his mind to work out what had happened.

His memory came back to him in short bursts; memories of his clones hunting and attack priests, the memories of his clone with Asia getting to a barrier that had been set up. _'Likely Red's work_ ' He added mentally while he started getting feeling back in his body. The clone with the girl had waited behind some trees near the edge of the grounds until a bright purple light filled the area, it lasted only a moment before pitch black flames covered the grounds and the clone popped.

Finally his own memories of the fight he'd been in came back: the feeling of how close he was to dying again, the need to protect his friends; a secondary image came to his mind of a feminine black haired youth, in a short sleeved pink kimono decorated with blue swirl marks. " _When a person has something important they want to protect… That's when they become truly strong._ "

' _Haku…_ ' Naruto thought as he remembered the life changing friend turned enemy. Slowly letting all the memories filter through his mind and organize themselves, the boy started to feel around his body. He could tell he was in a bed, likely Rias or his own after Rias had laid claim to it, because of the silk sheets. He also felt weights holding him down, one on each side of his chest and one on his stomach.

He opened his eyes to take in the room; his memory finally showing the end of his fight with Mastema, and he needed to see everyone to be sure they were alright. His first view was not what he expected it to be. He was used to Rias and Akeno sleeping next to him and was half expecting to have a blob of red or black from their hair covering his sight, so having a curtain of white was a new view. Taking a second to use some of the minimal chakra he had regained, he switched places with the pillow that was in the corner of the room and looked back at the bed.

As almost expected Rias and Akeno had been at his sides, now cuddling into the body pillow. However he hadn't expected that Asia was passed out where his stomach was, or that Koneko was above his pillows. The two new girls had been fully dressed, letting him know that they hadn't planned on sleeping where they had but rather they appeared to have fallen asleep while doing something else.

Mind too fogged from sleep to wake them and ask the blonde boy staggered out into the hall in hopes of finding a shower or coffee, whichever appeared before him first would be fine.

Yuto yawned loudly while he returned to Naruto's house from picking up breakfast for them all, which was quickly becoming the group's new base of operations. He would have liked to keep it separate himself but Rias was finding it much simpler to come here to do their work because they always ended up here in the end anyway. She didn't see a point in keeping their devil work separate from the rest of their lives because to her, it had always been part of her life.

He had to give it to Naruto for his tolerance in dealing with these things. The dragon boy was easy to anger over some seemingly trivial things and yet that would have made Yuto lose even his cool Naruto dealt with easily.

Opening the door to the kitchen he almost started to laugh, Hikari was blushing and covering her eyes while Naruto was glaring at the kettle seeming to be waiting for it to boil. The reason for Hikari's blush is Naruto seem to have come right here from his bed. This normally wouldn't have mattered as he always wore sleeping pants due to knowing what he was like in the morning. However, after the fight the day before yesterday Rias and Asia had tried healing him, and ended up spending a great deal of their energy to try and refill his reserves; which had been the only problem he had. As such he'd been stripped naked; as such he was now completely naked, half asleep in the middle of the kitchen while his 'sister' was in the room.

"At least he's up." Yuto said while he carried the drinks and food over to the counter.

"Kiba-kun! _Please_ make him put on pants!" Hikari begged, her eyes still covered as to not look at her brother figure.

Yuto chuckled as he walked forward and put a coffee cup in the other boy's hand. "Drink." He said simply before taking the rest to the dining room. He popped back into the kitchen long enough to lead Hikari out and give her something to eat. They only had to wait a couple of minutes before the heard Naruto complaining about being naked somehow before he set off back upstairs.

"That was a side of Nii-san I really didn't need to see." Hikari muttered after he had disappeared upstairs. She was slowly picking at her breakfast while waiting for her blush to die down. Yuto continued to chuckle. To him, it was relieving to have the other blonde doing something stupid after he had witnessed his fight. "It's not funny, I've been traumatized!"

"Come on now Hikari-chan, you can't say you didn't expect something like this to happen at some point. We all know how dead to the world he is in the morning." Yuto said with an amused grin plastered on his lips.

"Eh, I could hope can't I?" The snake girl asked, before sticking her tongue out at the boy.

Yuto continued to chuckle while shaking his head. "I'm just glad he's back on his feet, even if there was nothing wrong with him. The amount of energy he let off..." Hikari lost her happy look; she was happy he was okay too but felt horrible that she was so useless. She'd been knocked out cold when the group that took Asia blew the door in; all she was told she received was a burse on her head, which Rias healed in moments. Everyone else had ended up fighting for their lives to save the blonde nun, Naruto coming home being carried by Yuto and Akeno. "It's not your fault Hikari-chan."

Hikari looked back at the blonde knight, having been startled from her thoughts. She closed her eyes and sighed, "I know Kiba-kun but I just feel so useless. Asia-chan is my friend too; everyone was working so hard. Nii-san was out cold for over a day and what did I do? Slept." Her frustration could be felt in her voice and clearly seen on the purple haired girls face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her knuckles white while she clenched a fist around her chop sticks.

Sighing tiredly, as he hadn't gotten much sleep, even if he did sleep this time, Yuto could understand what the young Lamia was dealing with. "Hikari, I'm training with Naruto and Koneko in the afternoons. Maybe if you ask Naruto he will start helping you as well."

The girl bit her lip in thought. "Maybe, but I kinda wanted to do this for him, not have him help me with this."

"Ara ara, then maybe after you learn the transformation spell you can continue to study magic?" Akeno offered, as she just heard Yuto's offer and decided to add her own. "I'll even help you learn if you'd like."

"Really Nee-chan?" Akeno smiled and nodded, before she was once again subject to a flying Lamia glomp. "Oh thank you." She sang smiling. Hikari quickly let go of the black haired girl and rushed around the table to hug Yuto as well. "And thank you too Kiba-kun."

"I didn't do anything." The boy said with a chuckle.

"You listened and made me feel better. That's more than thank worthy," Hikari said while pulling again from him. "Nee-chan are all boy's as thick as Nii-san and Kiba-kun here?"

"OIE! I'm not thick!"

"Ufufu, most are worse Hikari-chan." Akeno replied with a hand hiding her giggles, which made Hikari laugh even more while Yuto just grumbled.

"So anyone else awake or just you Akeno-sempai?" Yuto asked while he moved around setting out food and drinks for them.

"Hmmm, I think Koneko-chan was waking up while I was leaving the room." Akeno said. "Buchou and Asia-chan were still asleep from giving Ghosty-kun so much energy."

Once she had finished saying this Naruto was dragged into the room by Koneko, the petite girl forced him into a seat before dropping into his lap without a word. The boy was mostly dressed having a pair of workout pants on and an open button up shirt exposing his chest, water was still dripping from his hair, as he appeared to have just gotten out of the shower when the cat girl found him.

"Welcome back to the world of the living Tortoise. Did you enjoy your nap?" Yuto asked, a small smirk on his face, clearly calmed now that his friend was up and about, and dressed.

"To early bunny-boy; ask again when I'm awake." Naruto grumbled back, while he reached for another coffee that had been left out for him. Missing the fact that Yuto had shown that he figured out where the bunny-boy reference came from.

"At least you're dressed this time." Hikari grumbled at the boy while he drank his coffee.

"Not my fault someone else stripped me in my sleep." Naruto shot back. Koneko, who just started munching on some pastries that Yuto had gotten for her breakfast, shot the boy a blank look.

"Baka."

"Come on Kitten, everyone knows what I'm like in the morning." Naruto tried to defend himself from the shots, only to have everyone give him a look, mostly deadpanned though Akeno was clearing amused.

"Oh I don't mind you walking around like that Ghosty-kun." Akeno said happily, everyone including Naruto, turned their deadpanned stares to her making her giggle more.

"Blah, I give up, it's too early for this sort of thing." Naruto declared as he slumped down a little. Just as he was lifting a bite of eggs into his mouth the last two girls quickly came into the room.

As soon as Asia saw him she started to rush towards him "Oh thank the Lord you…" She didn't get to finish as she was suddenly slammed into the floor holding her head "Owwie."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that reaction "You're a Devil now Asia you can't praise the Biblical God anymore." Rias scolded lightly.

"Heh I forgot." Asia said giggling nervously.

Naruto sent a sharp look towards Rias before looking at Asia. "And why exactly are you a devil now Goldie?"

Asia sat up without raising her head, her fingers nervously fiddling with one of the ties on her night shirt. "Well, umm, when Naruto-san was hurt I kept running out of magic to try and heal you. Rias-san her mentioned that she wished she had a Bishop so she had more Magic to help you. So I asked her to make me one. She told me that I'd be basically turning against everything I was as a nun, but this way I can help Naruto-san and Hikari-chan, and I won't have to leave."

Naruto only groaned into his hands while he shook his head at the girl. "You wouldn't have left anyways Goldie. This is your home now. If you tried to leave I'm pretty sure Hebi-chan would have tied you to a chair." Hikari nodded sagely, while Asia smiled and blushed. "Besides, you start School Monday. Speaking of so do you Imouto, so you better start working on the spell after breakfast."

"Hai Nii-san." Hikari said excitedly. The young girl was almost bouncing in her seat.

After breakfast and more than a few cups of coffee Naruto had returned to his now furnished study, in which he was followed by Koneko and Yuto. Sitting behind his desk and booting up his computer Naruto watched the two sit down in a couple of the three high back chairs on the other side of his large old oak desk. He'd had his study done in warm blues and cool black colouring to give it the feeling of peaceful waters so as to calm him while he worked. The walls were lined with bookshelves, even if most were still empty, so that he had room for his collection. "What can I do for you two?"

"Well I'm here to see if I got my answer right to your bunny boy comments. Tortoise and the Hare right?" Yuto asked feeling much more at ease in this room then the ORC room. Naruto nodded with a slight grin. "So I'm guess you're telling me that I'm rushing into things."

"That's right, rushing forward is making you miss details that are right in front of you;details that would give away the answer to your question." Naruto explained, his small grin showed that he knew exactly which questions the other blonde boy wanted to ask.

"You really are a pain in the ass you know that?"

"Only when it's amusing." Naruto countered in a heartbeat. Turning away from the other blonde Naruto focused on his white haired cat-girl friend. "So what can I do for you Kitten?"

Koneko took a deep breath while closing her eyes for a moment. When she finally opened her eyes again she stared straight into Naruto's eyes. "Train me with you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow; he was starting to think she had forgotten about his request for her to learn something to balance his growing aggressive style and outlook. "Okay. I'll train you with Yuto."

"No. With you." The white hair girl said. Naruto kept his eyebrow raised while he looked at her waiting for her to explain. "I saw you. When we were about to be attacked, I was too weak, everyone almost died because I was weak. Don't want to lose anyone else."

"Will be painful to catch up."

"Don't care."

"You'll have to do EVERYTHING I say."

"Don't care, trust you."

Naruto closed his eyes with a sigh, something he'd been doing way too often since he started hanging out with this group. "Fine, just be sure you realized just where I need to put the seal." When he looked at her he could see her blush lightly but her eyes were still firm, no hesitation what so ever.

* * *

Rias stared blankly at the letter in front of her; Akeno sat by her side a worried frown on her normally smiling face. "What are we going to do?" The two were currently at the red heads desk in the Occult Research Club room.

"For now there's nothing we can do Akeno. I knew he'd be trying this soon, I'm just glad Onii-sama managed to send me some warning this time." Rias said tiredly. "I can only hope that I can challenge the marriage somehow. I'm running out of options."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes thinking over what they had read. "The Rating game route is still an option Buchou; we know Naruto is strong, with everyone together there's still a chance for us to win it." Akeno said, breaking the silence that had descended between them.

"I know he's strong Akeno, I just wish I knew how strong he was so I could plan for him more accordingly." Rias said as she turned to look out the window of the room. "But he doesn't show us anything, even when he's training with Yuto or you he does just enough to keep ahead of you."

Akeno seem to think deeply about this. "Perhaps you're going about this the wrong way Buchou."

"What do you mean?"

"Instead of trying to see what he can do, why don't we ask him?"

"We've tried that, he just gives us somewhat vague answers unless it involves the magic we are helping him with." Rias reminded her Queen.

"That was when we were giving up nothing in return Rias. I'm talking about putting everything on the table and then asking for help. We've all seen his protective streak; if you are level with him he'll help you. He might even let you know what he can do so you can plan." The black haired Queen offered.

Rias narrowed her eyes as she thought about it, even if things had smoothed out between them to a degree Rias knew she never really had control of any situation he was involved in. He always did things his own way, only stepping back if he believed they didn't need him, or he wanted to see something.

At first this had annoyed her greatly, as she had always been in charge and in full control of her Peerage, having someone take that away from her made her feel undermined, only his threat to just disappear had made her hold her tongue. She had thought that if it got to bad she would have to declare him stray, even if it horrified her to even think about. They argued about things, but it was never very bad, mostly it was more a view point problem for them; and often as long as one could prove their point the other backed off, she'd even won a couple of arguments and he relented.

That had been the main reason she had been able to relax around him. He wasn't truly trying to undermine her simply he didn't see any of them as anything but equals; something she didn't get except from Sona, and even that was a formal equal and rival. With Naruto he simply saw her as his equal; and friend now, nothing more nothing less.

As time wore on she was finding herself less annoyed that he'd do things his own way, with or without her knowledge and consent. She would still worry about him, much like during their fight with the Fallen Angels, but there was little she could do about it. Plus, this was the second time she owed her life to him.

"We'll talk about it after we get them their familiars, it's only a week away so I'll have time to try and think how to talk to them." Rias said, both relenting to her Queen and putting off the problem for a while.

Akeno frowned slightly, knowing that Rias was putting off telling them simply because she was worried about how to talk about her issues. "I'll hold you to that Buchou."

Before any more could be said they heard a knocking at the door. "Come in!" Rias called out, effectively ending the conversation for now. The door opened to reveal the black haired, pink eyed student council president. "Sona? What can I do for you?"

"Sorry to bother you Rias-sama." Both high-class devils winced slightly at the title, before Sona pressed on. "But I would like to speak to you on the subject we did not get to cover during our last meeting."

"Oh yes, I'm sorry I didn't get to see you earlier, however things have been surprisingly busy." Rias said, with a small smile. "Please have a seat so we can talk." The girl offer while waving to one of the many seats, while she left the desk to sit on one of the couches

"I'll get you both some tea." Akeno said with a pristine smile.

"Thank you Akeno."

"Thank you Himejima-sama." With that Akeno disappeared out the door before Sona took up the couch across from Rias. "How goes your planning for Riser?"

Rias' face dropped at the question, as a small groan escaped her lips. "I was just talking about this with Akeno, I'm putting a hold on any more plans till after the next full moon."

"Oh, why's that?" Sona asked as she tilted her head slightly.

"I have two new members of my Peerage so I think they should both go to get their Familiars."

"Ah." Sona said before a small smirk appeared on her lips. "That could be troubling as I was planning on taking my two new members to get their Familiars as well."

Rias got a smirk as well. "Oh really? I guess you're not going to give this up easily are you?" Sona didn't even have to say anything, as her smirk said everything for her. "So I guess I'll have to challenge you for the right to go first."

"Oh a challenge is it? We can't have a rating game as neither of us are mature devils yet." Sona asked intrigued.

"Oh no of course not, you have many more pieces then me, and I doubt Hyodo and Naruto-kun meeting in that setting would end pleasantly." Rias agreed, getting another nod from Sona. "Besides, I do believe this is a bet between the two of us not them. How about a tennis match?"

Sona seem to think about it for a moment before nodding. "That could work, as this week is the club ball tournament."

"Then it's agreed; we hold a tennis match, winner get to go to the Familiar Forest first." Rias said as she shook hands with Sona. "So what did you want to talk about?" Just as Rias said this Akeno returned with the tea and set it out in front of the two Devils.

"It appears my Parents thought farther ahead than I had assumed. Not only was there a marriage contract for me; there was one for my children as well." Sona said, a frown marring her face. Rias and Akeno's eyes both widened when they heard this, as this explained Sona's edginess for the last while. "My parents were also less than happy that I managed to break the first one and warned this family of how I managed to break the contract. He will not play me in a game of chess, nor is he letting my insults to his pride get the better of him even as he shows his anger. I was hoping you might have some idea how to help me, as you have the same issue with Riser."

Rias narrowed her eyes and bit the tip of her thumb as she tried to think about how to help her friend. After several minutes of silence Rias sighed aloud before telling the other girl the truth. "Right now the only real 'plan' I have is to challenge Riser to a rating game and hope I win."

Sona sighed herself as she realized while that was easier for Rias; as the red haired girl did have a trump card, her own Peerage wasn't quite set up for a quick over powering rush like the red head could pull. As she had escaped the first engagement she had focused on getting long term potential rather than the fast power members that Rias had; she also was focused on members that would be loyal without question, not taking the chance with wild cards like Naruto.

Sona closed her eyes while rubbing her temples under her glasses. "That would not be possible in my case. Unlike you, my Peerage is nowhere near ready for battle; nor do I have the pure fire power to have a chance with such a plan."

"Even with your other Rook?" Rias asked

"Yes Garou-san is strong but does not have enough battle experience yet." Sona said while she thought about her chances. "Even if I was to take into account Hyodo-san and Saji-san gears, without enough training to use them it would do little good."

"What are their gears anyways?" Rias asked, wanting to know exactly what she'd given to her rival and friend.

"Saji-san has a fragment of Vritra, the Absorption Line, and Hyodo-san has a unique Twice Critical called Tiger's Pride. Both can be of great help with the proper training." Sona explained, lightly sliding her glasses back up her nose as she spoke.

"However you don't have the time to do that training. Do you have any idea when he's supposed to be coming?" Rias asked while trying to come up with some idea of how she could help.

"I was told I'd be starting courtship next year, but considering how impatient he seemed I can see him trying to push up the timetable." Sona explained.

"So much like what Riser is trying to do." Rias said tiredly. Sona could only nod mutely at her statement.

Both girls were lost in thought before a loud crash sounded from outside "Owwie."

"Hikari are you o…" **Crash** "Owwie."

"Ufufu it appears Asia and Hikari have arrived." Akeno said with a grin of amusement on her face. The pony-tailed Queen walked towards the door, her giggles could easily be heard even as she tried to suppress them, and opened it even before the pair could knock. "I'm glad you could make it you two." Akeno said with a smile as she watched the girls brush off their skirts.

"Thank you Akeno-sempai." Asia said with a bow to the older girl.

"Heya Akeno-nee-chan, Rias-nee-chan, and lady I don't know. How are you?" Hikari said happily bouncing in place, only to have to grab Akeno and Asia's shoulders as she started to lose her balance. "Muuuu, legs are so hard to use. I don't see how you all make it look so easy," the girl said as she lifted her ankle length baby blue skirt to reveal two humanoid legs that were covered in dark purple snake scales.

Asia blushed a bit a gasped, rushing forward she pushed the skirt from the girls and hands. "Hikari-chan you can't do that. It's indecent!" The ex nun exclaimed, causing the two girls that new her to giggle while Sona stared in slight confusion.

"Its fine Asia-chan, it's only us girls here right now so no need to get worked up." Rias explained, even as her smile seemed to grow more natural from the two's antics. "And Hikari-chan, legs are natural for us, so we don't find it awkward to use them. If we were suddenly given Lamia bodies we would have just as much difficultly moving as you are. That's why Naruto wanting you to have a full weekend to adjust, which you are doing quite rapidly." Rias pride in the young girl could be heard quite clearly, causing the purple hair girl to blush from the praise.

"Ara, Hikari-chan, when the spell was earlier you didn't have scales on your legs; so why do you have them now?" Akeno asked, as she remembered the spell clearly. She had learned it right after the blonde boy had finished it.

Hikari laughed nervously. "Well I knew Nii-san would always be around so I cast it myself this morning."

"Oh my, that is quite impressive for your first time casting it." Akeno said equally as proud of the girl they all had taken in as a sister.

"Well, actually this is my third try to get this spell on my legs." Hikari admitted in embarrassment, her blush not leaving her cheeks. "The first time it only split my tail in two, second time I had feet at the end of my tails. Third cast took pretty much all the magic I had left to get this." Her head hanging down in slight shame.

"That is still really impressive as that was the first spell you've learnt, and it is a rather complicated spell." Akeno insisted, a large smile on her face backing up her words. Hikari got her own smile as she heard her nee-chan's praise. "However, as you need to wear a uniform skirt, how about I finish this spell of yours and we can work on your casting after classes today?" Hikari nodded with a large grin.

"Oh before you three go, I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine. Sitri Sona, here is the student council president, and a fellow high-class devil." Rias said to the two newest girls.

"While at school please refer to me as Shitori Souna." She said with a polite bow.

"Sona this is Argento Asia, she's an ex-nun who's taken up the position of Bishop in my Peerage." The blonde bowed deeply to the high-class devil. "Naruto calls her Goldie." Rias added on, knowing that her friend needed to know so wouldn't have Naruto calling her out on it.

"Ah nice to meet you Argento-sama." Sona said with a bit of a grimes.

"Ahno, it is a pleasure to meet you Sitri-sama, but you don't need to call me 'sama'" Asia said while waving her hands in front of her.

"Ufufufu, I'm afraid she does Asia-chan." Akeno said, holding a hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to hide her laugher. Asia and Hikari both looked at the pony-tailed Queen with questioning looks making Akeno giggle more before she explained. "Sitri-sama made a bet with Ghosty-kun so anyone he nicknames she has to refer to as Sama until he says otherwise."

A look of understanding dawned on the two girls faces before a big smile bloomed on Hikari's face as she tried to step forward to greet the pink eyed devil; she almost tripped again, having to windmill her arms until she wasn't going to fall over. Catching her balance once more and ignoring Akeno's giggles, Hikari turned to Sona with a big smile. "Hi, my names Hikari, nice to meet you." The girl chirped, while waving hyperactively. "I hope we can be friends."

"It is nice to meet you as well Hikari-san." Sona said with a small bow of her head.

"Muuuu, you're too stiff, you should relax Sona-nee-chan." Hikari said back with a pout, already deciding that if she was Rias' friend she was going to be a nee-chan as well.

Rias almost started laughing at Sona's stupefied look, but held herself back so she could cut off anything that might transpire between the two. She had enough problems between her blonde rook and her friend she didn't want to deal with anymore. "Sona, this is Uzumaki Hikari, Naruto's adopted sister." She could already see lights going on in her friends eyes, the girl had only been around a month but from being near Naruto that whole time she'd already picked up a few of his quirks, just mixed with her perky attitude.

"Ah, I'm sorry Uzumaki-sama, I didn't realizes who you were." Sona said, trying to correct her lack of 'Sama' last time she addressed the girl.

"Muuuu, Rias-nee-chan why'd you do that, she was just saying my name normally." Hikari whined as she realized her connection to her brother figure caused her to be addressed so stiffly.

"Sorry Hikari-chan, but you don't want her to get in trouble with your nii-san do you?"

Hikari still pouted a bit before relenting "No," she finally said.

"Ufufu, come on Hikari-chan let's get you fixed up for your first day of school." Akeno said as she helped the girl walk out the door. Hikari waved as she left while Asia gave a quick bow and left as well.

"Anyway Rias-sama I really should be getting back to the council office. I'll see you at lunch to set up a time for our match." The black haired King said to her rival.

"Okay Sona-san, see you then." Rias agreed before her oldest friend disappeared out the door. Once she was gone, Rias got a small frown on her face; although it was very small, something had changed in her friendship with Sona, the red head couldn't tell what it was but she felt something was off when they had talked. Sighing the crimson haired girl leaned back and stared up at the ceiling, she had so much on her mind right now that she was having trouble keeping it all straight.

* * *

Naruto clapped his hands together, as if to knock off any dirt, while he walked away from his latest handy work. Behind him, hanging once more from a rope, where the perverted trio; although this time all they had were their shirts tied around their waists like diapers and pacifiers taped in their mouths. He'd even managed to tape their hands closed around a rattle each, while their free hands were just taped into fists. All three were tied with their backs to each other, before they were tied up at the same height as last time.

On Monday, he'd caught the three ogling Asia when she was talking with his sister before class, so he thought he'd be nice and warn them away from trying anything on the girl. It was now Wednesday and he'd already caught them trying to peep before the Nun's gym class. Just as last time he didn't give them a chance to see who caught them, though he had a feeling Hyodo would know, he'd warned the boy that it would only get worse if they didn't shape up. Just like last time he'd left another note hanging below them, this one said. " _We were caught peeping again. We are slow learners so we're in a time out._ "

He was glad he got this done now as he could slip away without anyone noticing and grab some lunch before he had to be back to watch Rias match. She'd made it a point to ask everyone if they could come to watch. Naruto noticed that the Red haired girl an odd twitch when she asked him and Koneko; who'd seated herself in the middle of his lap but refrained from acknowledging it.

He really hadn't wanted to go, even asked why she wanted him there, saying he was going to skip today to practice his Alchemy. She pouted and asked him to please come. With that and Koneko's incessant poking his thigh, he buckled. Truthfully he would have buckled to her pleading pretty quickly; he just didn't like watching sports much, finding them pretty boring. That being said he didn't really have to be seen by anyone other than the club members. He was planning on letting them see him then hiding somewhere so he could read while keeping an eye on the game.

It took quite a bit of work for him to stop the people from looking for him after his lunch with the Club; something that Rias tried to repeat and Azazel wouldn't let him live down. Keeping his head down and out of sight, which was difficult during and at the end of classes, paid off and soon the rumors about him started to fade. He had no desire to become some second prince of school or be called a delinquent that was forcing them to be with him mostly because teenager rumor-mills can easily run either way. While rumors for idiots didn't bother him too much, reputations did follow a person all through their life and he didn't want to have to move to escape being labeled something he wasn't.

This of course didn't stop Rias and Akeno for having fun with what others saw, something that made his disappearing much harder then it needed to be. Rias was very much happy to say that he'd joined their club, and was very helpful and smart, and pretty much blowing sunshine about him to everyone in ear shot. Akeno however liked to blush and smile while insinuating all sorts of things about the kisses they'd given him.

Koneko was the only one that sort of helped him in his disappearing act, not much she just didn't talk about him to anyone. Everyone that had asked her about the kiss she simply pointed at the asker and said "Pervert." before turning and walking away. After the fifth person got the cold shoulder from the girl they learned to stop asking about it.

Yuto had his own set of problems to deal with; apparently the smaller blondes little show while asking for help training caused a bigger stir among the school then the kisses did. Naruto couldn't say he was overly surprised by this considering almost 80% of the school was girls. As such the Prince was the hot topic not some blonde boy nobody ever really sees or knows anything about; though he could freely admit being referred to as "Kuoh's resident Ghost." did raise an eyebrow or two when he heard it.

He had gathered some attention when he would meet Hikari after school to walk her to the club room, though he had mostly brushed that off as having Asia and Koneko following with him to meet the girl. Since the rescue, both girls had been stuck to his sides like glue whenever they could, something that didn't go unnoticed by anyone. Naruto personally wanted to chalk it up to them needing to get over a traumatic event. He'd taken to getting a few hours rest in his study the last few nights because Sunday night his bed was full of other bodies before he could even get into it.

Hikari had made jokes of it, saying he was so popular he should just make his whole bedroom one large bed so it could fit the whole house hold, or talking about group weddings. The fact that Koneko and Akeno looked actually thoughtful about that comment disturbed the boy enough that he closed himself into his study for a complete night, burying himself in his magic studies.

Shaking himself clear of his thoughts, the boy slowed his pace so as to not draw attention to himself, he had just arrived at the sports field where he was supposed to watch the tennis matches. As he had approached from where the locker rooms were, Naruto arrived from behind the 8 tier white bleachers. The three tennis courts where set inside a ten foot high chain link fence, all having red ground covering; something that looked like dyed red asphalt to the blonde ninja, with spray painted white lines on the ground to mark the courts. A line of trees surrounded the back and sides of the fenced in area, giving shade and some measure of solitude to allow the players to focus without cutting the area off from the rest of the grounds.

Smirking faintly, Naruto moved away from the rapidly filling bleachers and found a shaded area that gave him view of the courts and audience without being easily seen, as usual it was an area that was out in the open but easily overlook. He'd just been able to pull out his alchemy book, he said he'd come not that he wouldn't still be trying to learn a skill that interested him as much as seals did, when he felt a familiar weight drop into his lap. "Hello Kitten."

"Naruto-sempai."

"Good day?"

"Hai. Your work?" When Koneko asked this she pointed towards where the girl's locker room was.

"Their fault." Naruto responded with a shrug, finally managing to dig his alchemy book out and open it.

"Sitri-sempai will be upset."

"Not allowed." Koneko looked confused, as she knew that Sona was just as protective of her servants as Rias, even if she showed less compassion about it. Naruto shot a look to the girl when he didn't hear her say anything but did feel her move a bit. Seeing her look at him with her question in her eyes Naruto answered her unasked question. "The bet. She's not allowed to be upset for anything I do."

The Nekoshou thought back to the bet Naruto had with Sona. The first part said she wasn't allowto demand anything of him, so while she could get upset she couldn't do anything about it. So basically, even if Sona does know that Naruto had done this prank against Issei, she was not able to call him on it, therefore stopping her from expressing any displeasure. Nodding her understanding Koneko turned back to the courts and pulled out some snacks for her to enjoy while she watched the match.

She had just started to relax in her spot when she felt a comforting hazes fill her mind, causing her to release a slight purr while her eyes fell closed. Naruto hadn't even realized that he'd starting to absentmindedly pet the girls hair while he read his book, only noticing what he'd done when the girl fell back into his chest fast asleep. Blinking in surprise Naruto cast a quick look around; Rias had yet to take to the courts so he still had time, none of the other students had noticed them yet, not even Yuto or Akeno. Assuming she was as tired as he felt, Naruto decided to let the white haired girl rest. ' _Maybe Koneko feels that same "protective big brother" aura that Hikari was talking about?_ ' the confused blonde thought to himself as he felt Koneko curl in to his chest more. Lazily wrapping an arm around the girl to reach his book, the clueless blonde boy flipped the page and pushed the thoughts of why the white haired girl was sleeping on him from his mind.

It was a good twenty five minutes later that Rias and Sona made their way into the courts, Naruto had shaken Koneko awake as soon as he saw the pair. However, once he saw both of them starting to use magic in the game, he simply went back to reading his book; having lost any interesting once it became a game of who can cheat and not let the humans catch you. He felt no surprise when the game was called a tie, though he had to admit he was impressed that they managed to keep the damage to a minimum.

As the game had finished, he could see Rias looking around trying to find something or someone. Soon enough Yuto, Asia and Akeno had come up next to the young women. The three had a quick conversation before they too started to look about causing Naruto to shake his head. It was all too obvious who they were searching for. Getting Koneko to stand, he moved himself in to direct sunlight and waved to the three.

Akeno was the first to see the pair and giggled at Naruto bored wave, as he hadn't stoped reading as he waved. Koneko was beside him as she stared intently at the three, as if she wanted them to know where she was simply by a look. Finally, Akeno got the other three to look to the side of the court and they all approached the two anti-social members of their club. Asia's smile lit up her face when she saw the blonde boy."Why are you two over here?" Rias asked, still not understanding how some people simply couldn't handle having many others around them.

"Got here early, so wanted to have a quiet comfortable place to read. Kitten joined me soon after," Naruto said easily, finally putting his book away.

"So you were here the whole time to watch my Tennis match?" Rias questioned happily; she wasn't sure why but she felt more excited knowing that the dragon boy had been watching her.

"Yeah, though I'm pretty sure you stopped playing tennis after the second serve, and it suddenly became a game of wreck-it ball." The boy countered with a smirk.

"Don't you mean racket ball?" Yuto asked.

"Nope, I mean wreck-it." Naruto stated while pointing a finger at the destroyed tennis court, even if the girls managed to contain the damage done, the whole court would need to be re-floored. Akeno giggled as Rias blushed when she realized what happened while she got caught up in her game against Sona. "So was there a point to you playing this? Because you sure seemed 'into it' for a simple match against your friendly rival."

Rias sighed and nodded. "I sort of took a page out of your book and made a bet with her." She had most of her blush under control now that she was talking about her reasons rather than looking at the results of the bet. "Something that I'm fairly sure we are going to have to re-discus as this match ended in a tie."

Naruto raised an eyebrow when he heard he inadvertently helped make this mess. "Okay, now you have my attention. What's at stake?"

The girl's eyes darted around for a second looked for something before she came up with an answer. "Club resources, I'll explain the details over lunch in the club room." Naruto realized what she was alluding to easily, so he simply nodded. "I should tell you now Sona and the student council will likely be there."

Naruto's eye quickly started to drift off as he turned around to get his bag. "They may be late then," The boy said as he started to collect his belongings.

"Why's that?" Rias asked, as she had been too focused on her match to notice her surroundings when she left the locker room.

"Perverts got caught again." Koneko answered for the boy. "You didn't see?"

Rias narrowed her eyes in thought from the Nekoshou's question, trying to remember if she had seen anything. "I don't recall anything, though I'll admit I was preoccupied with other thoughts."

"Oh, and what happened to them this time?" Akeno asked with an impish grin.

"Oh they're just having a time out. I'm sure Sitri will find them hanging around." Naruto said with a bit of a smirk, getting a giggle from Akeno and a low chuckle from Yuto while the princely blonde shook his head. "I have pictures on my phone if you want to see?" The blonde ninja offered.

"I'd rather know how you pull it off honestly." Rias said as she shook her head, she could already see the storm Sona was likely to cause from this.

"I'm ninja like that," Naruto said giving the same answer he'd given Koneko when she asked. Asia tilted her head in confusion while the other three inside the fenced off area all snapped their heads up towards the smirking blonde; before they could question if he was serious though they all saw Koneko poking him in the ribs hard, a barely noticeable frown on her lips. "Hey stop it Kitten."

"Baka." The white haired girl said while she continued to poke at the amused blonde.

Rias sighed as the pair played around, she could honestly say she was jealous of the two. Giving a quick glance at the other two with her she could see she wasn't the only one. While most couldn't see it, Rias had been with her Queen long enough to notice the slight tightening around her eyes and strains she's putting into keeping her smile in place. Asia looked to be pouting slightly, as if she wanted to join the game while not sure she could.

Rias and Akeno were also becoming very stressed from the lack of sleep. They'd become very use to sleeping next to the blonde ninja, but for the last few days he hadn't even been coming to bed. Several times, one or the other would slip out of bed and go looking for him only to find him in his study working on one form of study or writing things out on a large journal. By morning, neither had been able to sleep much at all and when they made it down for breakfast Naruto was wide awake intoning that he either gotten up fairly early or the more likely option of he hadn't slept at all.

Naruto's light chuckles draw all of them from their thoughts as he gotten Koneko to stop poking him. "I guess we should head to the club room now then?"

Rias shook her head to clear away her feelings and thoughts, now wasn't the time. "Yes, hopefully Sona will be calm enough when she arrives that we can get our business dealt with."

Naruto shrugs as he and Koneko turn to head toward the old school building. "As long as she doesn't go back on our bet Sitri can't really say much." Naruto said as he moved away from the others, ignoring the fact that Koneko had taken his hand as they walked.

Yuto was quick to retreat when he felt Rias starting to release and angry aura of jealousy while staring at the retreating pair; looking up he decided it was best to run as he could see mischief and planning going on in Akeno eyes awhile she had joined the red head in staring after the two. For all his quick wits and his extraordinarilyfast learning curve, Naruto could be extremely dense when it came to some of life's common sense things and women.

Watching from a safe distance, Yuto was the least affected by Naruto's joke. While he did wish to know if the blonde was really a Ninja, he wasn't about to push for answers from his fellow blonde. He'd been honest with him when he asked his friend to help train him. Naruto could keep all the secrets he wanted and Yuto wouldn't question him about them, as long as the other boy helped train him. Naruto had already kept up his half of the bargain, something Yuto could already feel and see; as while he could still barely move under the level three seal, when he was walking a moving normally he felt faster and lighter.

* * *

Naruto's hand twitched very so slightly while he sat in 'his' chair. He desperately wanted to have he's book out so he could ignore everyone else in the room. The whole Sitri peerage was in the Occult Research Club room with Rias' peerage. The red head herself was currently seated on one of the couches directly across from her pink eyed rival; while both girls' Queens sat beside them. Yuto had taken up standing directly behind the red haired devil; his back to the only window in the room, while the rest of Sona's known Peerage stood behind her. The four slightly odd ones out were Koneko who was sitting on his lap as was normal for the girl; Asia, who was standing so close to the side of his chair he was sure if she moved any closer she'd be sitting on the arm rest; Hikari, was standing behind his chair using the back to support her as she was still having trouble with walking even if she was getting use to her new leg fast; and finally, himself.

The eight members of Sitri Peerage were all looking between the two high-class devils and himself with varying looks of nervousness, and in one case annoyance. Naruto couldn't even bring himself to blame Issei for his annoyance either, the boy was likely the laughing stock of the school, he'd missed Sona's tennis match and caused them to be late for this meeting as they had to get him down and into proper clothing. That wasn't to say Naruto wouldn't do it again or worse if he caught the boy again, or if he and the women's other pawn continued to stare at Asia with so much lust it could be smelled.

As the two girls continued to talk about things over their tea, Naruto decided to take a more through look at the others in her Peerage, as while he had seen them before he wasn't really paying them much attention. The girl closest to him was a tall girl with long white hair, with almost metallic blue green eyes. Her domineer was slightly shy but with a resolved stance that meant she was obviously nervous to be here, but held firm with her king. If his memory was right this girl was Hanakai Momo, a girl that was in his and Yuto's grade, and an apparent Bishop for the Sitri heiress.

Next to Momo stood Sona's second Bishop, a brown haired and eyed, girl by the name of Kusaka Reya. She seemed far more shy the Momo and seemed to cast shy looks towards Yuto every once in awhile, even going so far as to twirl one of her fingers through her chest length hair once in awhile. Even Naruto couldn't miss the signs of her crush on his friend, which meant a lot as he rarely understood any human or former human behavior.

Following the brunette was the reddish-brown haired Knight of the group. The girl could be seen barely holding back a fidget as she stood behind her king. This was something that Naruto understood as he remembered seeing this girl around and she was always moving. Megumi Tomoe was a hyperactive bubbly girl who would sometimes spar with the kendo club; however she never joined from what he could recall.

The last non-pawn of Sona's group was Yura Tsubasa who was a blue haired and eyed Rook. Tsubasa was the tallest of their group, coming up just short of his own height by only a couple of inches; and she gave off the feeling of a tomboy. She did have a very bishounen face much like Yuto's looks.

The only female Pawn Sona had was a first year by the name of Nimura Ruruko, who was doing much like Reya, only her glances were sent towards the blonde haired pawn next to her. Ruruko had waist length brown hair that was pulled back into two ponytails and bright happy green eyes, she was also the most nervous one of their group and make a point of keeping the blonde pawn, whom she kept glancing at, between her and Naruto. The blonde Pawn was Seji Genshirou, Naruto only need one look at the boy; who was staring at Asia, to know that Genshirou was a blonde haired, gray eyed, slightly taller version of Issei, Naruto didn't like the boy one bit.

He had to stop his examination of Sona's Peerage when he felt Hikari tapping him lightly on the shoulder. Giving a glance up he saw her point over to Rias and Sona, both of him were looking at him, Rias with slight worry, Sona with confusion. "Sorry I was lost in thought." Naruto said, as he barely held in a yawn.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, are you okay?" Rias asked her worry for the boy clear in her voice.

"I'm fine Red, just haven't slept since Sunday." Naruto said waving off her concern with an easy going smile. "What's up?"

"Sona and I have come to an agreement, sort of. We want to finish our bet by facing both our Peerages in a dodge ball game this Friday after classes." Rias explained. "Everyone else agreed but you seem to have zone out." Rias withheld that she had only asked her Peerage and Hikari if they agreed to the match, something she'd only really started getting into the habit of doing after Naruto had joined. It was also something that she found surprised the others at first, but made all of them happier. While she didn't second guess herself in battle she had started to ask their opinion more often.

Naruto looked up at his adopted sister. The girl had a happy and excited look on her face that seemed to make her almost glow with joy. Making a quick glance at the nun that looked equally excited for the game Naruto looked back to the red head and nodded as well. She seem to have gotten the others into it so he wasn't about to ruin their fun just because he thought the game was boring. "Sure, might as well. Winners will go right from there to the forest I take it?"

Rias give a happy grin while nodding, she was glad he didn't make much of a fuss over the game, as she was expecting to have to try and convince him to join. "Uzumaki-sama, if I may, is there something bothering you?" Sona asked, as she could clearly see he was still very distracted; both her and Naruto easily ignoring the grumbling from her Peerage at her having to still refer to him as 'Sama'.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself over Sitri-san, it's mostly family matters." Naruto said airily, waving her worry off.

"I see." Sona said before letting the matter drop for now. While she knew there was more to it there was little more she would get out of him. She would just have to try to regain her standing in his eyes before she could be trusted with anything else, something she found exceedingly odd to have to do. Pushing the thoughts from her mind for now she turned her head back towards Rias, who also appeared worry over the whiskered blonde. "Rias-sama, as I believe there is little more we have to talk about in regards to the match, I believe it best for us to retire from this meeting for now."

"I agree. I look forward to our match on Friday." The red haired devil said with a large smirk, one that was matched by the Sitri heiress.

* * *

"I hate you so much right now." Yuto said as he flopped down in the middle of the living room of Naruto's house. The other male of the group was only grinning mercilessly at the bishounen boy, while Koneko just stared blankly at the fallen knight. The three had been training for several hours, Koneko and Naruto in hand to hand fighting while the Knight was trying to still walk in level three gravity seal.

Koneko's evil Rook piece allowed for her to handle the gravity training far better than Yuto's Knight, which was more speed focused. So while both were now training at level three, Koneko was already learning fighting styles from Naruto that could complement each other, while Yuto was just trying to relearn how to walk.

The kicker for Yuto was that Naruto ended today's training earlier than normal to fulfill his promise to his first multi-year client and kept his word to the Knight by drag him along. Yuto had completely forgotten about Naruto's threat to take him along, and Naruto hadn't released the seal to allow Yuto to run away. Koneko just came along to see what the fuss was about as she hadn't been in the room when Naruto had returned from that client. "I told you I was taking you with me when I went next."

"I forgot with everything else that was going on."

"Not my problem."

"You're a Bastard."

"Most likely, but I really don't care." Naruto said with a wide, evil grin on his face. Yuto could very well be considered his best male friend, and he knew the little princely asshole was the reason for his sudden jump in female contractors. He couldn't prove it, but the sudden spike in hormonal teenage women being able to summon him was very much not to his liking, and Yuto was the most popular male in school.

"So what do you want to turn this damned thing off?" The ragged looking Knight asked while he finally managed to roll on to his back.

Naruto lifted his hands into a hand seal while spiking his chakra. With a quiet 'Kai' Yuto and Koneko both felt the weight lifted from their bodies, allowing Yuto to release an explosive sigh of relief; Koneko's was much softer but even she sighed happily while the tension left her shoulders. "How'd you do it?" Naruto asked while he stared intently at his fellow blonde in the room.

Yuto opened one eye as he smirked up at the other boy. "Do what Ghosty?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Yuto using Akeno's name for him. "The contracts ass-hat."

Yuto snorted aloud at Naruto's insult, while Koneko had to hold back her own snort behind her small smirk. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Give it up; I know it's you that's making all those horny girls get a hold of my summoning circle. How? And why are they willing to summon me not you?" Koneko suddenly became very interested in the answer to that, glaring intently at the once smirking blonde. With both Rooks staring down on him with hard looks Yuto started to sweat.

"Called you my 'big brother' and ummm, sorta implied that they had to 'impress' you for me to consider dating them?" Yuto asked while he was slinking back into a wall from the combined glares.

Naruto started getting a twitch in his eye; finally after a few minutes he just face-palmed and muttered to himself about perverted uncles and corruptible knights. "Fine, prank well played Prep." Yuto visibly deflated in his relief from having the blonde stop glaring at him, though Koneko still didn't look pleased. "However, you do know this means War right?" Threatened Naruto.

"Huh?!" A rapidly paling blonde said as he looked up to the whiskered dragon wearing the most evil and frightening grin he'd ever seen in his life, and could only wonder if he should have ignored Az's advice on how to get Naruto back for all the times he'd disappeared on the Knight. He knew he should have when Koneko's once hard look suddenly became one of pity. ' _I'm so fucked_ _._ ' was his only thought.

* * *

Naruto and Yuto stood side by side as the over looked their 'team mates' for the dodge ball game. Yuto was trying desperately to hold back his laugher while Naruto's eyebrow was twitching dangerously; on the other end of the court Issie and Genshirou were staring lustfully at the same thing as the two blondes. All the females were stretching to ready themselves for the game, while this wasn't bad in and of itself as it would prevent many injuries, they were doing so in tight girl's bloomer shorts; which were the reason the two perverted pawns were staring and drooling on the floor.

However, that was not the reason for Naruto's twitch or Yuto's withheld laugher. The reason for that was, like the student councils oddly homemade headbands, all the girls had decided they wanted to wear something matching. As such they decide to raid Naruto's T-shirt stock, and were now all wearing matching flame print T-shirts of varying colours along with they're shorts. Although they did look cute in the shirts, especially Koneko and Asia whom the shirts covered almost like a dress, Rias and Akeno looked far to self satisfied in the clothing. "Why are they all in my shirts?"

"Why do you have so many matching shirts?" Yuto shot back.

"On sale and they looked cool." Naruto answered back without really thinking about it.

"Really?"

"672 yen a shirt, and considering how many shirts I destroy in training..." Naruto trailed off as a look of understanding came over Yuto's face, as even he had started to need new shirts while training with Naruto. "Still doesn't answer my question as to why they're wearing my shirts."

"They're women why the hell are you asking me?" Yuto asked.

"Well with your pretty boy looks you could almost pass-" Naruto had to stop and dodge sideways as Yuto attempted to smack him in the back of the head.

"Ass."

"I know, it's sexy." Naruto said with an infuriating smirk. "But sorry, I only like girls Prep."

Yuto had his turn to twitch this time as he glared at his friends smirking form before calming down and tilting his head to the side. "Really? 'Cause I've never seen you with a girlfriend?"

"You're one to talk, almost every girl in this school would drop their panties at your smile and yet you've never even given one of them a second look." Naruto countered before he stopped and thought for a second. "Granted almost all of them are the evil fan-girl (Both boys shuttered from the word.) variety but not all of them."

Yuto deadpanned at the other boy. "The fan-girls *shutter* would eat any girl I asked out alive. So I've avoiding doing so till I'm away from them."

Naruto snorted loudly at the boy. "Good luck with that." He said before he took a second to take stock of the gymnasium they were to play the dodge ball game in. while the area was a large concrete and stone brick room, lit by florescentlights; it was painted to make the room seem larger and brighter then it truly was. The floor was painted a fleshy peach tone with many black, white and red circles and lines throughout the room. The retracted basketball hoops along either wall gave way for Naruto to know who normally used this gym. The white walls reflected a great deal of the light from the ceiling allowing everyone to know they had been paint recently, something that indicated to the blonde that this room was both in regular use and in high demand.

"Ano, aren't you going to stretch Naruto-san?"

"Are you ever going to drop the san from my name?" Naruto asked back as he smiled lightly at the blonde nun as he and Yuto approached the group. Asia smiled with a light blush on her cheeks, unable to stop herself from playing with the hem of his shirt that she was wearing. "I jogged here with Prep so I'm plenty stretched out Goldie."

"Awe I was hoping you'd put on a show for us ladies, we did so for you Ghosty-kun." Akeno said with a flirtatious smirk.

Naruto could almost see her trying to bait him into another one of her traps, even as Issie and Genshirou were prepared to do any showing needed to see more. Seeing a chance to crush their hopes, and hopefully stop their annoying lust filled stares at his friends, he smirk before speaking a little louder then truly necessary to be heard. "And I was hoping one of you would mind explaining why everyone other than Prep here is wearing my shirts?" He couldn't help the vindictive smirk that appeared on his lips as he saw both Sona's perverted pawns suddenly appear crouching in the corner of the room with storm clouds above their heads.

He was brought back to reality when he felt Asia tug lightly on the sleeve of his shirt while looking down shyly. "Ano,,, I'm sorry for taking your shirt without asking, Hikari-chan said you wouldn't mind, and we should all wear them as a team." She slowly raised her head to look at him, her face that of a horribly sad puppy that would have shattered heart if you didn't give it all your attention and love. "Please don't be upset."

' _There should be a law outlawing that look, it's just not fair._ ' Naruto thought before he sighed exasperatingly, gently laying one of his hands on the small ex-nuns golden locks and patting her head. "I'm not upset, just confused. Why my shirts? I'm pretty sure the one Kitten's wearing was the one I wore to bed last night." Naruto said before he turned his eyes towards his sister hoping she'd explain. Had he looked towards the other girls he would have noticed the looks of envy Koneko was getting from several of the girls.

The Lamia girl with legs just grinned at her brother before giving him the 'victory' hand symbol. "Pay back for the other morning my dear Onii-chan. Now we're even for you walking around the house naked." Again the Uzumaki siblings totally missed the blushing glaze eyed looks on the girls' faces.

"Stop letting people strip me in my sleep and that wouldn't happen." Naruto said trying to vainly defend himself.

"Oh like I can stop the number of girls that crawl into your bed and strip you." Hikari declared, ignoring how that statement knocked both perverted pawns out with matching nosebleeds. Nobody paid their mutters of 'lucky bastard' any mind as they simply left them there for the moment.

"Okay, stop you two." Rias said with a soft and amused smile on her lips. "As much as I'd love to let you two continue we have to start this game before the night is over."

Naruto blinked, having forgotten where they were in his game with Hikari. "Oh yeah." Shrugging he walked toward the court where everyone else was waiting; stopping only long enough to rub Koneko's head. "So I just have to not get hit right?" Naruto asked with a laidback air about him, he was trying to get the other side to underestimate him, not hard but by the looks of the perverts on the other side he didn't have to try hard anyway.

Really the only two that fell for his act were the perverted pawns. They had matching looks in their eyes as the picked up a set of balls to throw at him as soon as the game started. Once the whistle was blown both boys threw their 'weapons' at the lazing boy to try and get him out, only for the ninja to catch them with an evil grin and mischievous look in his eyes. "You perverts need to learn to keep your balls were they belong." Naruto called before firing the balls back at the two, aiming below the belt on both.

"Evil." Koneko said, with a small note of amusement in her voice.

* * *

"That was just brutal Ghost." Yuto said, having decided until he came up with a better name, he was just going to stick with the one Akeno called Naruto. The game had ended about ten minutes ago and everyone was had returned to their normal clothes. Except Koneko and Akeno, who still wore Naruto's t-shirts. Though from the looks of Rias and Asia he doubted he'd see any of those t-shirts again.

"But very amusing." Akeno herself added, a small amount of lust in her voice; she slide up beside the decided victor of the dodge ball game. Naruto was pulled away before she could get too closed to him by a determined looking Koneko. "Muuu you're no fun Koneko-chan."

"Eh they had it coming, I didn't like the way they were looking at the girls, so I had to remind them of their place." Naruto said simply. He held firm in his ignoring the by-play between the girls in the group, as he was sure it would only confuse him more if he tried to understand them.

Yuto snorted as he stood beside his best friend. "I didn't say it was underserved; only that it was brutal. You made a point to aim so that if they stood up the ball would find a way to hit them in the nuts again. I've never seen a guy cry that much in one afternoon."

"I only hit them once, the rest was just their bad karma coming back to bite them." Naruto said trying, and failing, to look innocent.

Yuto and everyone there snorted loudly when he said that. "Right." The princely blonde said before he looked back to their team medic, who was healing the injured boys as best she could. "Asia-chan, we need to get going!" The knight called out, drawing her away from the light healing she was doing to the two.

"Ah Right, coming Kiba-san." The nun said before bowing to the two boys politely before rushing over to Naruto's side, not even giving the two boy's a second look. Even as they stared longingly at her retreating form, until they saw Naruto's hard glare at them.

The rest of their conversations were cut off as Rias approached the group, her satisfied smirk allowed everyone to know she was enjoying having her Peerage dominate Sona's, as only Asia had gotten out, and that was more of a fluke as the nun had tripped and fallen into the ball rather then been hit.

Akeno smiled as she started up the magic circle once she saw Rias approach. "Is everything ready Buchou?"

"Yes Akeno, we can leave once everyone here is ready." Rias said before turning to the rest of the group. "Are you?" She was still having to remind herself to ask once in awhile but she believed she was getting better, and from the shocking results Yuto was has having from Naruto's training she was completely convinced it was worth the effort to stop thinking of any of her peerage as her servants. ' _Though I don't think it should be this hard to remember._ '

The following course of 'Hai's and one lazy 'sure.' from a distracted and whiskered blonde following the question was all Akeno needed to hear before she activated her spell.

The first thing Naruto noticed when he arrived in the forest they'd been transported to was that he could FEEL like it was breathing. There was so much energy everywhere around him it was staggering to him, he knew if he tried to activate his 'Fox eyes' he'd likely end up blinded. It both amazed him and unnerved him as not having his advanced eye sight could hamper him if something was to attack him right now. The energy was also darker then was he was used to, making the air slightly chilly;the dusk like sky cast a red hue across the almost black trees that surrounded them on all sides, adding to the effect.

In seconds after appearing here Naruto felt Asia latch onto his arm while shivering in fright, while on the other side Hikari was holding on to the hem of his shirt. "Well, isn't this a welcoming place." The whiskered blonde remarked sarcastically, cutting through the tense atmosphere with ease. Even as the others laughed Naruto could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise, something was already watching him.

"This is the Familiar Forest in the underworld Naruto-kun, the atmosphere here is to be expected." Rias said as she sent a disarming smile to the nervous girls. "There's nothing to be afraid of, this area of the forest is completely safe."

"You just jinxed us I hope you know that." Naruto remarked flatly.

Rias just laughed. "Oh relax; we've been here lots of times. Each of us had to come here to get our own familiars, plus we have a familiar master meeting us just up ahead, what could go wrong?"

"And now we're fucked." Naruto said with a groan. He could already see himself coming back after a series of horrifying and embarrassing events happen. "I reserve the right to say 'I told you so' when the shit hits the fan Red." Rias laughed lightly, until she turned around to see everyone was giving her deadpanned looks, causing her laughter to slowly die awkwardly. Naruto's head shot sideways and glared up into a tree at the side of the walking path ahead of them. "The stare is creepy bud, get out here."

"Gotta catch'um all!"

"NO MORE POKEMON FOR YOU!" Hikari screamed as a man jumped down from the tree Naruto had been glaring at. The man looked to be middle aged but was an off white sleeveless shirt, a large yellow backpack, blue backwards baseball cap, beige cargo shorts and wore hiking boots. The Uzumaki siblings both had rather clear twitches in their eyebrows as the reddish brown haired man looked like he was trying to rip off a Pokemon character but was VERY over the hill, and refused to let go. "5000 yen says he's a pervert." The girl whispered to her brother figure.

"No bet, I already caught him leering at you girls." Naruto muttered back, his glare not letting up on the over the hill Ash wanna-be.

"I'm Zatouji, The Familiar Master. I can catch any Familiar." The now named Zatouji called out, puffing himself up as if trying to impress the women of the group.

"Old Pokemon perv." Naruto muttered. He lost interest in the man after that as he could still feel something in the area almost hunting him, but as no one else seem to notice he was almost tempted to put it off as paranoia. ' _This is the point when I'd have vanished normally._ ' The blonde thought with narrowed eyes. He was not use to having this many people near him and it was started to bother him more and more each day. Having them basically hanging off him like two were now just drove his instinctive need to attack into over drive, and now he could feel a presence stalking him.

The group started to walk deeper into the forest following the still talking familiar master, he had started telling them all about the different types of familiar they could get, the varying abilities they displayed and elemental affinities they could have. "So what type of Familiars are you looking for?" The man asked while he finally stopped in a large clearing with a small pond near the end of it.

"Ano I'd like something cute please." Asia asked shyly, stepping slightly away from Naruto in order to be seen.

"Of course you can!" The man responded, puffing himself up as if he could do anything. The man looked around "You're in luck, there happens to be an Undine connected to this pond. I'll call her out for you." The devil said as he pranced over to the pond while digging for something in his backpack.

Suddenly all moment stopped as everyone felt the something dark enter the clearing, a low but deep growl echoing off the trees. Everyone's eyes slowly moved toward the far side of the area as the shadows seem to become darker and collect into one spot. Naruto slowly released himself from Hikari's hold while he moved in front of the group; he knew this thing was here for him as it had been since he entered the forest. "Nii-chan?" the younger Uzumaki asked watching her brother figure move to meet the slowly forming mass of shadows.

"Finally showing yourself?" Naruto asked aloud as the mass started to take shape. The shadows seem to run down the beings form like black oil, clearing away to show what looked to be a black wolf with shots of red highlighting its coat. The wolf stood at least five feet high on the shoulders, and two and a half feet wide; however the two most defining features were the glowing green eyes that lit up the clearing and the four massive black and red feathered wings coming from the wolfs back.

"A MONARCH!" Zatouji yelled out in shock seeing the massive wolf, which was currently in a glaring contest with Naruto.

"A what?" Rias asked in worry. She'd never heard nor seen anything like this beast before. Everyone else was listening, while they were preparing to fight the beast, should it attack.

"It's a Monarch Shadow wolf, the strongest breed of shadow wolves, or any elemental wolves for that matter. Nobody really knows where they come from or how they're born, though some rumors say they are the direct descendants of Hati son of Fenrir; one is only seen every 500 to 1000 years. The only way not to be attacked when you see one is to bow in submission, and pray it doesn't see you as a threat." Zatouji explained, he was already getting to his knees while he explained this.

Rias could already tell this was not going to be a pleasant night, nor was she going to get home without having to listen to Naruto's mocking 'I told you so'. "I still don't believe I jinxed us," Rias said while she glared at the blonde boy as he started to release an aura of blood red chakra. She knew she and the others wouldn't have to bow, the Wolf was solely focused on the one being that would rather die than bow.

"Keep telling yourself that Red," Naruto said while kept staring at the wolf. Then it happened; the horse sized wolf lunged forward at the dragon-kin boy fangs barred, Naruto met the attack with a Chakra enforced raising kick to snap the beasts mouth closed, before both were dragged into the shadows and disappeared.

* * *

From inside a cave deep within the mountain range bordering the Familiar Forest a large golden eye slowly opened. The silted iris narrowing as the being awoke from its slumber, searching the surroundings for what caused it to awaken. Slowly lifting its head from the ground crystalline blue scales shown in the moonlight, the massive western dragon slowly crawled from its resting place to scan the forest more closely.

' _What is this feeling? It's feels like Ophis, yet different.'_ The Dragon thought as it tried to locate where the feeling was coming from. The majestic blue dragon was none other than the Chaos Karma Dragon, only female of the dragon kings, Tiamat. She slowly descended the mountain its cave was located in, while sniffing the air to try and find the source of strange energy without the cause getting away. Suddenly, in the distance from the devils entrance to the forest she felt a spike of the power accompanied with a feeling of emptiness before it receded again.

Narrowing her eyes Tiamat shifted her form into a smaller size before taking flight to track down the power that seemed both familiar and foreign.

* * *

Naruto fell backward while holding his leg up, keeping the beast's mouth shut as it sailed over the falling blonde, swinging up with both arms as his head neared the ground Naruto shot up a second kick to the beast's chest. Once the wolf was completely above him, Naruto's hands hit ground and his second leg joined his first in finding contact with the Shadow wolf's body. The blow sending the beast clear across the new clearing they had ended up in.

Finishing his flip, Naruto was back to his feet and facing his opponent before the large creature landed from its impromptu flight. Fists clenched and adrenalin pumping the blonde boy gave chase to the large predator to keep up his attack, only to be left flat footed as the wolf touched a shadow and disappeared. Sliding into a defense stance the whiskered ninja quickly started scanning the clearing for any sign of the wolf, as he knew it wouldn't be over with one attack. ' _This is going to get annoying quickly._ ' The boy thought as he kept his eyes sharp, not enjoying this turn about as he was the one that often appeared from the shadows to attack.

Trusting his instincts Naruto closed his eyes while slipping two kunai into his hands in reverse grips. Feeding Chakra into the kunai, he waited only as second before his eyes flashed open and he spun around. Slashing out with his left hand he watch as a solid tentacle of shadow was shredded. The boy hopped to his right with a spin and slashed out with his right hand, this time slicing into the wolf, only for it to shred around into shadows as well.

Narrowing his eyes as he saw more shadows start to condense into the forms of wolves and weaving coils, Naruto knew he needed to stop the wolfs ability to control shadows if he wanted to end this quickly and return to the others. Pulling in the burning chakra aura Naruto released his wings and called on his Void Flames. Waves of fire flashed off of him feeding on the massive amounts of energy in the air, as well as the magic the wolf had fed into the shadows to give them form. The blaze had only just been released and all of the constructs his opponent had created fell to pieces, but Naruto knew something was wrong.

The flames vanished as the blonde dragon-kin fell to his knees coughing and clutching his chest in pain, blood leaking from his lips even as he tried desperately to stem the cough. Calling up his Chakra once more, he focused it in and around his chest, hoping desperately that his regenerating would fix the problem or at the very least stop the cough till he finished the fight. As the blood red chakra cloaked his body once more Naruto felt the pain from his chest ease off, but couldn't help but glare at the blood that had fallen to the ground in front of him.

Pushing the pain from his mind, Naruto reclaimed the fallen kunai and stood back to his feet, already scanning for his enemy once more. He already knew he was at a major disadvantage because he could no long use his Void Flames to neutralize the beast's shadow powers and the wolf had brought him here, so it had chosen a place where the shadows were abundant. Seeing a gleam of green shining down on him Naruto snarled up into the branches of one of the nearby trees, where an equally snarling four winged shadow wolf stood glaring down at him.

Coming up with an idea to counter the advantage the beast had given itself Naruto started drawing up his magic, before he returned the kunai from his right hand back into his sleeve. Keeping a careful watch on the wolf as it jumped down from the tree and started circling him, Naruto carefully reached into a hidden pocket of his coat and pulled out several shuriken. The wolf stopped circling while Naruto kept his eyes locked with the beast, keeping his mind focused no several thinks at once was almost giving the boy a headache but he felt it once he had his spell ready.

With a low growl the monarch shadow wolf lunged at Naruto again just as the boy threw his throwing stars at it. As if repeating the same attack as their first exchange Naruto once again shot a raising kick into the wolfs lower jaw, however this time as soon as contact was made both being disappeared in a flash of black; reappearing seventy feet in the air. His wings already out the blonde ninja finished his flip kick before stabilizing himself in the air.

The wolf managed to stop his own flight as well; through not as gracefully as Naruto. By fully extending its wings he showed that they weren't just for decoration despite how out of place they seem to be. Growling at the cause of its pain the wolf opened its mouth and started pooling all of its dark power there forming a large ball of power to collect.

Naruto stared blankly for a second as he watched the large beast start calling up a massive amount of power in front of its mouth. In that moment the large wolf seemed to be over lapped with multiple animals doing the same stance, only with small balls of blue and red condensing into a large black orb in front of them. Seeing a different attack happening; but expecting the same results, Naruto let himself drop. He had just managed to get out of the way as the beam type attack shot past him burning his coat sleeve and wing, causing him to focus his chakra cloak to heal it quickly.

Clear from the blasts path Naruto snapped his wings open; ignoring the shooting pain from the rapidly healing one, and swooped around on a collision course for the still recovering wolf beast. This action didn't go unnoticed by the tired but aggravated animal, which turned and started to fly to meet the dragon-kin in mid-flight. The impact caused a blast wave of shadow energy and chakra to explode out before both beings were sent crashing back into the ground beneath them.

* * *

Tiamat watch in amusement as a hatchling part Dragon Being fought with the local Monarch shadow wolf. When she had first arrived she hadn't expected to see the two trying to dual each other in midair, as it seem out of their elements. She had originally thought for a moment the part dragon was a devil that Ophis had empowered, that thought was discarded once she got a better look at the boy's wings; which were clearly draconic in origin not demonic.

The Chakra glowing around the blonde also threw off her thoughts on whom he was as well. As far back as she would remember only Youkai had any form of Chakra, not dragons, and his Chakra was far thicker they any Youkai she's ever met. His was very befitting for a dragon, however the Chakra didn't enhance his draconic smell, which if it was his main power it should have. Had he been empowered by Ophis her sent would have been all over him right now, but she couldn't find a trace of it on him.

"You little Hatchling, are a mystery." Tiamat whispered quietly as she flew closer to where the blonde had landed, hoping to see more from him.

* * *

With the main group right after Naruto was taken.

"What do you mean, you can't find him?!" Rias growled at the shaking and stuttering familiar master, a halo of blackish red power of destruction outlining her form.

"E-e-exactly t-t-that G-G-Germory-sama." Zatouji barely got out, while he crab walked his fallen form backwards into a tree, trying to get away from the many anger women bearing down on him. "No one can track a Shadow wolf unless they have a greater control of shadows and since that was a Monarch there isn't a being alive with a greater control of shadows."

The girls all took another step forwards towards the man, each with their individual powers coating their forms; from arcs of thunder jumping across Akeno's body, to aura of malice around Koneko. Before the group could try to get a better answer from the shivering guide a hollowing wave of energy washed over them before disappearing, calming the worried girls significantly. The wave had the reverse effect on Zatouji however has he now looked more panicked and fearful. "WHAT WAS THAT!?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the one that knows everything about what's in the forest?" Hikari shot back snidely.

"Ara ara, now Hikari-chan that's not fair. Our little Ghosty-kun is in a league all his own." Akeno offered with a grin, the thunder she had arching around her before gone and her demeanor returning to her always smiling self once more.

"She does have a point Hikari-chan. I've never even heard of powers like your brothers before." Rias said, her aura gone and a thoughtful look on her face. "The closest I can think of is 'The power of Worthlessness' of the Belial clan, but that simply nullifies the abilities of people and objects, where Naruto's Flames consume everything and leave nothing behind, it even feeds off other fires."

Everyone stopped to watch as a streak of black energy cut through the sky, allowing them all to know that even as they spoke Naruto was still fighting with the large wolf. "Ano, shouldn't we be going to help Naruto-san?" Asia asked shyly, worried about the man that had taken away the loneliness in her heart, and even risked his life to save her.

"Not serious," Koneko said simply, watching the sky as red and black light flashed quickly.

"True," Yuto said with a nod. "If Ghost was really trying that feeling of emptiness wouldn't have stopped. Plus, we would have felt him…" The blonde Swordsmen had to stop as a feeling of weightlessness came over him; a glance at Koneko showed her eyes widen marginally as she felt the same. ' _Release the gravity seals._ ' The boy finished in his mind as he stared at where the light came from.

Zatouji's head was whipping from person to person as he tried his best to follow the conversation, whoever that boy was he was important to the group but they also seem to have complete faith in him as soon as they knew he was alive. He wasn't sure if the boy was going to live but as long as the group wasn't going to take their worry out on him he was fine with it. Looking up he spotted something that would farther get him away from the blame. "Oh look at that! It's a Sprite Dragon, they are super rare."

* * *

Naruto ducked as a wolf made of pure shadow leapt over him, only for it to shred into black wisps as the blonde turned his forward momentum into a spin and lash out with a slash to the phantom beast's stomach. Jumping after his slash, the boy did an acrobatic twist and landed a double flip kick to another of the phantom wolves before landing sideways on a tree.

Rapidly scanning the area Naruto spotted his target and sent three more shuriken at the tree bound wolf that was summoning the phantom menaces. The elemental canine snarled and leapt from his perch to the ground. As soon as its paws touched the shadows spikes shot out at the blonde dragon-kin causing him to leap away from his wooden landing pad and sail up towards where the wolf had just vacated. "Wish I had remembered to bring those exploding tags I finally figured out how to make." The boy mutters as he sent a Chakra charged kunai at the already running wolf.

The wolf retaliated by shooting out thousands of little blades of darkness towards the blonde, forcing the boy to slip two kunai into his hands and use them to fend off as much of the attack as he could. As fast and as skilled as Naruto was he didn't make through the attack unscathed, his shirt, jacket and pants were littered with tiny cuts and small speckles of blood.

"Fine, let's play hard ball then." Naruto growled before he raised the forefinger and middle finger of both hands and crossed them into a plus sign shape. " **Kage Bunshin no jutsu!** " He called out causing a large cloud of smoke to form, from the smoke 20 replicas of blonde jump out into different directions before bouncing back towards the wolf with kunai in hand.

Taimat watched, very impressed from her place near the top of the trees. She'd never seen a skill like this before and the boy used the ability excellently. All 21 of the blondes would attack in waves of 7 each, coming in with fists, feet or kunai; as the beast moved to counter the blondes another wave would sweep in from a different angle to take their chance to attack. When the wolf managed to catch a piece of one of the boys and make it explode in smoke the others would work to cover the gap in their defense.

The battle came to an end when the wolf snapped its jaws closed around the left forearm on one of the remaining 6 blondes; however unlike the rest this one didn't explode into smoke, rather the arm released a spray of blood and a yell of pain and rage escaped the boy's mouth. The wolf sunk its teeth in deeper as it thought it had finally had the upper hand on its pray; its momentary victory didn't last though. With its head locked in one position all six blondes released chakra empowered attacks to the beast's head, effectively knocking it unconscious.

Holding the bite mark on his arm, which was already starting to heal, Naruto stepped away from the prone form of his latest opponent. That had been a long and unexpectedly difficult fight. Although, it would likely have been made much easier if he had use of his void flame it did remind him not to become dependent on anyone ability. Had he not kept up his training to relearn his Ninja skills he could very well have lost. Dispelling his clones Naruto took a deep breath through his nose, only to wince and fall back into a stance again and start scanning the trees in the area "I know you're there, come out." The boy called out, praying he wouldn't have to deal with another fight so soon.

Taimat almost snorted at finally being noticed by the blonde hatchling, before jumping down to ground level, allowing her body to return to its full 180 foot long size. She withheld a grin as the boy gulped but didn't back down or bow to her as he looked on her full form. "Hello Hatchling, what are you doing in my forest?" The blue western dragon asked as she stared down at him.

"Besides getting attacked by big, cocky, winged, dogs?" Naruto asked sarcastically, sending a dirty look at the knocked out wolf and getting a light giggle from the female dragon. "My friends came here to hunt familiars and had me come along, that is until stupid here attack me for no reason."

Taimat lowered herself down to lazy lying position while keeping one eye focused on him, unknowingly causing the boy a savoir cast of Deja Vu. "Really you are traveling with that group of devils and they haven't added you to their Peerage yet?"

"Not for lack of trying." Naruto admitted with a grin as he relaxed slightly. With the dragon lying down showing no hostility, he allowed his chakra aura to vanish. "I'm unique in that they weren't able to turn me into a devil with their evil piece system."

"Oh Really?" Tiamat asked

"Yep." Naruto responded with a smirk. "Name's Uzumaki Naruto, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I am Tiamat the Chaos Karma Dragon, it is a pleasure to meet you as well." The blue dragon said with a nod, neither bowing to each other but acknowledging each other with respect.

"How did you get the title of Chaos Karma Dragon Tiamat-san?" Naruto asked, knowing that titles like that were earned.

Tiamat smile slightly sadly, when she remembered back a very long time ago. "It was what my first opponent called me in our last match, since then I always introduced myself as it when I would fight." She explained, causing Naruto to remember how when he fought Mastema; the fallen had titled him as well. Noticing the look in his eyes Tiamat smirked. "I see you understand our dragon's pride. Come now introduce yourself correctly."

Naruto looked sharply up at the female dragon king and felt himself answer unwittingly. "Maelstrom, the Oblivion Dragon."

* * *

Rias smiled happily as Asia and Hikari played with their new familiars along with the rest of her Peerage. She'd been shocked when Asia had managed to bond herself with the young sprit dragon which she named 'Reito', which she named after the other dragon in their group. The sprit was cute, however it shocked Yuto the second the boy came to close. Apparently Sprit dragons have an instinctual hate for any other males of other species, which, caused some worry for how Naruto and him would get along.

Hikari's new pet was another matter of worry, somehow the Lamia wondered off for a few minutes and came back with a baby Nundu following here around. The snake girl thought it was the cutest thing she'd ever saw and instantly bonded it as her familiar, and had been trying to cuddle it to death ever since. While the kitten itself seemed content with Hikari it hissed and backed away from everyone else except Asia. However, the Sprit dragon and Nundu would end up in staring contests every time they were in sight of each other.

The part that worried the whole group the most though was it had already been three hours and there still had been no sign of Naruto. With the weak signal from his Evil Pieces Rias couldn't track him or call to him, she only knew that he was alive, even that being in the most basic of terms. While she wasn't worried originally after the pulse of his flames, as she seem to think it was his way of letting them know he was alright. Now Rias was starting to regret not at least sending Yuto or Koneko out to find him.

Finally tired of waiting for the boy's return the red haired beauty stood up and called Akeno over to her. "I'm worried. It's been too long and we haven't heard or even felt anything from him." Rias said, knowing that Akeno would already know who she was talking about.

"Hai Buchou, but do we even know where to start looking for Ghosty-kun? I can't even feel his energies anymore, not even that really dense Chakra from when he started fighting the Monarch." Akeno asked, she was all for heading out to hunt their elusive Rook but she was hoping they had some sort of plan.

"The energy pulse he gave off earlier came from north of us." Rias said while she waved in the general direction that she remembered feeling Naruto using his flames. "I think our best chances would be to start heading that w…"

Rias was prevented from saying anything else when a large black and red form came rolling into the clearing with a loud whine, and yelps as it hit the ground. "Oh be quiet you big wimp."

Everyone's head turned as they heard the easily recognizable voice of their missing friend call from where the beaten Shadow wolf had been throw. "Welcome back Nii-san. How was playing with your new friend?"

Naruto was already giving Hikari a deadpanned stare when he stepped out of the wood and into the clearing with the rest of the group. "I highly doubt this thing trying to eat me counts as playing Hebi-Imouto." Seeing her chipper smile not fading, while she awaited her answer Naruto sighed. "However it was fun, and educational." Hikari nodded happily before going back to playing with her Nundu cub. "How was your trip?"

"It was great! Asia-chan and I got new friends to play with and everything. This is Kuronami, isn't she cute?" Hikari called out happily as she held her Nundu up for Naruto to get a look at. The kitten was about the size of a full grown house cat, but showed its age by the soft and puffy fur it sported. While it's fur was looked black in colour, it in fact was mostly black circles over a dark yellow coat.

"Yes very cute indeed, what is she?" Naruto asked as he moved towards his sister and friends.

"She's a Nundu, and Asia got a Sprit Dragon." The adopted Uzumaki said excitedly, until she got a look at Naruto and frowned in worry. His cloths was torn, burnt and covered in blood, while his left sleeve was missing from the elbow down; dried blood was on the side of his face and his wings were still exposed.

Naruto stopped moving forward as he could see both pets quickly hide behind their owners, looking down he realized not only was his disheveled appearance but also he had yet to stop the large amount of chakra he was flowing through his body. Even if it wasn't visible, anything that was in tune with its instincts enough could feel the overwhelming force of power erupting inside of him.

He didn't even get a chance to say anything before Asia was upon him with her scared gear out looked to see if she could find where he was hurt. "I'm okay Goldie, they were all just small cuts that have already healed, see?" the boy lifted the left side of his shirt and jacket while speaking; exposing his well defined chest, rippling abs and pristine unmarked skin for all to see.

"But, but you were…"

Naruto released his shirt and lightly ruffled the girl's hair, showing her a calm and gentle smile. "Thank you, but I really am okay. Though the dog over there could use some help." The boy explained while thumbing over to where the massive wolf lay still in a crumpled heap. Asia looked over at the wolf with a small frown, upset that it had hurt her blonde savior before she saw how hurt it was. Her kind nature got the best of her and she walked over to start healing it.

"So I take it you took so long because you had to carry the wolf with you?" Rias asked as she approached the dragon-kin.

"No, I took so long because I kept getting lost in that damned forest." Naruto grumbled. "I had no idea where the heck the damn thing dragged me and I kept getting turned around." This caused most of the girls to giggle and Zatouji to sweat-drop, as he was more annoyed about being lost then being attacked. He chose to keep his meeting with Tiamat to himself for now unless something came up that he needed to tell the others about his meeting a dragon king.

Rias' smile was more relaxed as she felt better with everyone in one group again. The more the group was together the safer and more relaxed she felt, in fact she noticed everyone was more relaxed the more they lived together in Naruto's house. With the exception of Naruto; who was still fairly awkward in larger groups of people, but even he was getting better.

Hearing a low growl, Naruto turned to see the wolf was getting back to its feet, pushing Asia away with one of its wings; surprisingly gently. Naruto took a step forward towards the Monarch before releasing a growl of his own. The two dominant beings stared fiercely into each other's eyes, growling loudly, finally the wolf lowered its head and eyes in submission. Naruto nodded before motioning for Asia to finish, being sure to growl at the wolf again when it tried to snarl at the girl.

Zatouji stared wide eyed at this teenage boy that just tamed one of the most dangerous types of wolves ever recorded. ' _Three incredibility powerful familiars for their first attempts, this is going to be one dangerous group._ ' "How did you get him to accept being your familiar?" Zarouji asked, already having pulled a pad and paper out to note it down for future note.

"Come again? I just kick its butt because it attacked me." Naruto explained. "I'm getting it healed 'cause it was only attacking me, it ignored everyone else so no reason to go overboard." This remark caused Asia and Hikari to smile lightly that he was being so kind to the wolf while the rest of the Gremory Peerage frowned at his still lacking self regard.

"You are an odd devil; most would have killed it for attacking them."

"I'm a Dragon not a devil." Naruto stated flatly, not even bothering to look back at the man. Everyone attention was then drawn back to the large wolf as it moved forward and lowered its head towards Naruto, pawing at his foot lightly. "What do you want? If you try fighting me again I'm going to beat you with a car."

The wolf lay down and covered his nose with his paws, whining lowly. Naruto snorted at the surprisingly intelligent wolf, as it completely understood him. "Okay, so no attacking. What do you want?"

The Monarch Shadow wolf got back to his feet before using one of its wings to point at the Familiar Master, and half barked half howled at them. Naruto raised an eyebrow, following the wing then back to the animal. "You want to be my Familiar?" Nods "Let me guess: pack mentality to follow the strongest?" Again the wolf nodded at the blonde boy. This caused Rias to become even more excited, her peerage was filling with stronger and stronger beings. If this kept up she would take care of Riser without a worry.

Naruto stared hard at the wolf and sighed. "Fine, but I swear if you attack anyone in our group I'm going to beat you with a car so bad you won't know the difference between yourself and a T-bar." Everyone in the clearing other than the wolf and Naruto, sweat-dropped from the boy's odd threat but quickly set up casting the bonding spell. "Welcome to the family Tabar."

"Tabar?" Yuto questioned the Wolf's odd name.

"Reminder of what happens if he forgets our deal: I'll use him to replace a T-bar in a car." The blonde smirk, clearing making another of his bad jokes.

"Baka." Koneko said before she and Asia started to drag the boy towards the exit, all the familiars following their masters. The now named Tabar following a few steps behind sulking at his less then steller name.

To be continued.


	8. Fires starting

**AN: I don't own the rights to any animes, manga, songs or TV shows that appear in this story. I also want to send out many thanks out to the many people who've helped me with ideas and beta reading this story. SC CloudStrife and his wife, Dadlop3 (Who also is to blame for the omake in this chapter), HurricaneLaurk, Ice of Darkness & Ogremen.**

 **Also just want to throw this out so nobody thinks I've dropped the story, but I am spending the holidays with my family so I'm not going to be writing anything till into the new year.**

 **Also because of many reviewers have asked about it; All Omakes in my stories are jokes. They didn't and won't really happen, it's me and friends being insane and sleep deprived.**

 **Merry Christmas all.**

Trying Again 8

Fires starting

Naruto released a loud groan as the sun pierced his eyelids, he did not want to wake up yet. Even if he could stay awake for 4 days at a time, that didn't mean he didn't like his sleep, even if it was on the couch in his study. Despite wanted to go back to sleep, Naruto rolled himself up to a seated position, his bare feet landing on the cool wooden floor, giving him a slight shock from the temperature difference. Ruffling his hair with one hand, the blonde stood up, letting the throw blanket fall from his body back to the couch; leaving him standing only in a pair of dark gray and red sweat pants.

Staggering around for a few moments in his sleep-induced haze, Naruto finally managed to make it out of the study and made his way to the kitchen. Coffee was his top priority. Then he'd try to figure out what day it was. Last time he'd stayed up for three days and then let himself sleep, he'd been out cold for 20 some hours. It wouldn't due for him to have been asleep for more than a day and not know it. He made it to the kitchen, only for his body to be enveloped in smoke the second he opened the door. Fighting down the coughing fit that came from the acrid smoke, Naruto moved through the room and forced open the windows before heading to where he knew the sink and spray head was to hose down the stove.

He didn't need to be fully awake to know this was his sister's fault, so if she was in the way of the water, it wasn't his problem. The loud squawk of surprise, one loud enough to wake the rest of the household, let him know that she was indeed in between the water and whatever that was that was burning. Naruto, who couldn't find the brain power to open his eyes more than half way, only grunted at the girl's cries of dismay at getting soaked. Her attempt at cooking was again unsalvageable.

"Nii-san, you scared me." Hikari said as she wiped the water off her face, and moved to make his coffee. "Everyone was up late worried because you slept so long so I thought I'd surprise them with making breakfast." By now the air in the room was starting to clear, showing a clearly burnt black pan and what might have been eggs and bacon. Hikari herself was also now visible, wearing a soft green sundress that seem to mix well against her purple hair and scaled tail. She was also clearly pouting that her attempts at cooking only seem to get worse the more she tried.

The door to the room crashed open as everyone from the ORC rushed into the kitchen, worried from the scream they had heard. The sight they came upon was not what they had expected. Though they really should have, Naruto had barely reacted as he seem to start falling asleep again while standing half naked, spraying the sink while Hikari had managed to jump completely onto the counter between the electric kettle and the stove.

"Are you okay Hikari-chan?" Asia asked. The blush on the nun's face was very apparent from the look of Naruto's upper body on clear display, as he finally stopped flooding the destroyed breakfast attempt. A blush that was shared among all the girls besides the boy's sister figure, however her concern for her friend overcoming her desire to stare at her savories body.

"Yeah I'm okay Asia-chan, Nii-san just surprised me." Hikari answered while she reached down and picked up her Nundu kitten and cuddled it to her chest. "Nii-san is such a meany in the morning, right Kuro-chan?" The cub glared and hissed at Naruto until a deep growl start emanating from the boy's shadow. Tabar slowly lifted from the ground behind his master, growling loudly at the Nundu, who responded by turning it's glare and hiss toward the large wolf.

Everyone in the room could feel the tension starting to rise as the wolf and panther stared off between their masters until the silence was cut off by Naruto in the least expected way. "ZZZZZZZZZZZ" everyone facefaulted as the blonde dragon-kin let off a loud snort; having fallen back to sleep because of the quiet tension.

"NII-CHAN!" Hikari's cried out as she heard him. Let it be known that Naruto was never good a reading the mood.

* * *

It was close to two hours later before the group sat down to breakfast. Yuto and Akeno had dragged Naruto off and tossed him into the prepared Furo, the water waking him enough to get up and correctly bathe before he returned to the kitchen. Asia and Akeno had been cooking and Koneko cleaned up and aired out the kitchen so that it could be used, while Rias had left to get everything ready for the day.

As everyone sat around the table eating, Hikari silently moping, depressed by another culinary failure, Akeno stopped eating long enough to pour Naruto another cup of coffee and send a pointed look towards her club president. Feeling the look being sent her way Rias also set down her chopsticks and took a moment to steady herself. She was not ready for this by any means, but she also knew if she put this off now, she'd never do it until it was too late. "I need to talk to everyone about something important." The girl finally said.

"That explains the espresso." Naruto muttered to himself while everyone turned their attention to the red-haired King. He had to ignore the kick he received under the table from Koneko as he tried to both pay attention and not spill his coffee on his lap. "What's up, Red?"

Rias favoured the boy a small smile, as his quips did in fact ease her nerves a bit. "I need you all to know that, while I didn't want to tell you all this. It was because you all not knowing helped me forget about it for a while, it was not because I didn't trust you." While Akeno and Koneko lowered their heads, showing that they were aware of what was coming, the rest of the table, other than Naruto, gave the girl confused looks. Naruto himself just kept sipping his extraordinarily strong coffee while he had his eyes locked with the girl. Seeing that most of the group was giving her their full attention, Rias continued. "Several years before I was born, my parents set up a marriage contract between House Gremory and House Phoenix. It was after the Devil civil war, so the number of pure blood Devils were low while the number of reincarnated Devils were rising rapidly. Many pure blooded Devils were worried that their family lines would lose their standing as they died out, and their ways would be forgotten. I wasn't told until much later when House Phoenix came to enact the contract between their youngest son and me." Everyone could see a look of pure loathing cross the teen's face as she spoke of her fiancé.

"By that look, I'm guessing this guy is a really charmer." Naruto remarked dryly, his cynicism clear in his voice.

"I like him as much as you like Hyodo, Naru-kun."

"I'm still not used to you calling me that."

"Ara ara, to give you an idea of how bad this engagement is, Ghosty-kun, I like this man as much as you like Hyodo." Akeno said, causing everyone to blink. So far the only people Akeno actively disliked were Fallen Angels. She seemed to be able to tolerate ANYTHING else, even Issei's pure creepy level of perversion. For this girl to dislike this guy was very surprising.

"Creep." Koneko added in just adding to the case.

"Okay, so the guy's a grade A dirt bag. Why are you telling us?" Naruto decided he'd have to meet this guy before he made a final judgment, but as he was making his 'Family' upset, he wasn't likely to be getting along with him.

Rias sighed as she rested her arms on the table and cradled her chin in her hands, her eyes losing focus as she remembered something. "I've spent the last 10 years trying to get myself out of this engagement. It was set up so that if both parties agree, we could end it cleanly, but no matter how much I try, Riser, my fiancé, refuses to let it end. He doesn't take any bets, won't listen to reason... Hell, he even is refusing anything I try to bribe him with." Rias had to momentarily shudder as she remembered the look in his eyes for both her and her female Peerage members. Shaking off the memory, she missed the cold look that flashed through Naruto's eyes. "I've been looking over every record I could get my hands on to try to find a way out. The best options I've found were to challenge him to a rating game or soil myself before the wedding." She said while looking down, clearly upset.

"Ano, what's a Rating Game?" Asia asked, unaware of the term.

"A Rating Game is a match where two Kings challenge each other's peerages to battle. The matches take place in an arena that is monitored so the battle can be recorded, and the Peerage members can be pulled out if they lose the fight so there are no fatalities. Rating Games came into play shortly after the Evil Piece system was created, as many high class devils often bragged about their Peerage as compared to others, often leading to duels. Now they are used for many reasons, and often seen as a status symbol or a way to settle disputes." Akeno explained for her friend, who seemed to have locked eyes with the silent blonde boy at the end of the table, unable to look away from him.

"Does 'soil' yourself mean what I think it does?" Naruto asked in a dead calm voice.

Rias held his eyes with a sad look. "To give away my virginity, yes."

"Answer me this, honestly. Were you planning on getting me to do it?"

"Originally, yes." Her voice quiet, eyes down cast while she responded to his question.

"What changed your mind?" Naruto voice was still calm and cold.

Rias took a deep breath to settle her nerves again, she knew she had to tell him straight on or he may not believe her."I didn't want to hurt what little trust you have in me." She said while looking him straight in the eye. "Although I trust you, and like you enough that I wouldn't mind the act, I wouldn't feel right having used you for such a thing; and I know you would be hurt by the thought of me using you like that. Even if I still think that is my best bet to get out of this marriage." Her voice was firm and eye unwavering.

Naruto keep his eyes locked with her for a few moment before a small smile made its way to his lips, there wasn't a hint of deceit in her words. Nodding his acceptance for her answer, Rias released a sigh. While it was a bit of a gamble admitting that to him, it would have been much worse had she lied and he found out. "So what makes the Rating Game such a bad option?"

"Riser is a mature devil, and has been for a few years now so he already has a full Peerage and has participated in many Rating Games." Rias said as she pulled some files from her carry bag that she had with her. Passing the information to the blonde, she continued. "As I'm not a mature devil, I can't enter any official Rating Games, so we don't have a lot of combat experience, nor do I have a full peerage. Although it's much more full now than it was last year at this time. I also don't really have any idea what our full combat power is, so I can't even plan accordingly."

Setting his coffee off to the side, Naruto started shifting through the records and pictures from Riser's past rating games. "This is why you were so motivated to gather Peerage members, I take it?" Naruto asked, basically ignoring her unasked question at the moment. Rias nodded, a little let down that the boy still wasn't forth coming with any information about himself. Naruto's eyes sharply moved across the pages of stats about each of Riser's peerage, the most notable members besides Riser himself were his queen, and the notably non-combative Bishop. "Fine, ask." the blonde finally said, his eyes not leaving the pages while he contemplated how to fight this group.

Rias eyes flew open in shock, before she smiled, gabbing Hikari's hand unconscionably in her excitement. "How strong are you really?"

"No clue, don't really have a measuring stick, but I would have lost to Mastema had he not been playing with us." Naruto said honestly. He knew he got lucky with that fight, even if it seemed to have messed up his Flames after whatever happened.

"Are you a Ninja?" Yuto asked, having wanted to know this since he'd met the slippery blonde bastard he called his best friend.

"Yes." Naruto said simply, causing a defining silence to fall over the household. Everyone was too shocked to say anything by his announcement, leaving the boy to enjoy his coffee as he considered how to deal with this new threat to his family's happy life.

* * *

"You do know that just silently staring is creepy, right?" The two-tone-haired man said as he shifted slightly under the slitted gaze of the boy in front of him. He may be old and more powerful than him, but the boy always had this look like you were never in control and it was better to let this dangerous wild animal have what it wanted. The boy's now slitted pupils only added to the effect, making the staring contest they had been having a very uneven match. "FINE! What do you want to know?"

"See, that wasn't so hard." Naruto said as a smirk made its way to his face. Azazel just grumbled about cocky, know it all brats while he waited for Naruto to ask his questions. They had met up at a Café in Tokyo proper after Rias dropped her little bomb on them this morning. As it was Sunday, they didn't have school and Azazel had finished most of his meetings in the area for the week, now was the best time for them to meet. "How did no one there notice you were a Fallen Angel? They all had various ways of sensing energy, and Kitten's got a wicked nose on her. I was sure they'd have caught you."

Azazel's face changed from one of resignation to one of glowing pride in heartbeats when he heard the question. Reaching a hand into his business suit, he pulled out a fist sized semi-circle-like object that had a ribbed lip around the lower half of it. The object seemed to be made of black crystal, while the lip had a dull look of hard plastic or non-processed metal. "That was because of this. It's a type of artificial Sacred Gear I made based on the idea of your own hiding abilities. It's a prototype with more than a few issues so far. I never really got to study your abilities very thoroughly, but it allows for the user to cast a glimmer over themselves that completely hides their energy signature. Down fall is that while the glimmer is in place, the person can't use any energies or spells without the glimmer falling. It consumes a LOT of magic to hold the disguise and can only be held for a week maximum." Azazel explained, becoming frustrated at the shortcomings of his device. "Your house was the first real field test of it. While the energy drain would be less if it was truly implanted, I needed to test the length and limits of it."

"I see. That would make for a very useful spying tool." Naruto said as he looked over the device.

"Not really. Well, not yet anyway." The man said as he leaned back in his chair a little. "It makes the user appear to be pure human for now, as it can't fake the energy signal of a Devil or Angel. So it's not useful for spying on most beings. While it would work on humans, most humans can't sense our energies anyway so it's a bit of a waste of time right now."

"Seemed pretty useful while you were staying with me." Naruto countered while he sat back sipping his coffee.

"Your friends already thought I was human so they didn't look into it too much." Azazel countered the boy. "Your ability, which is what I was trying to reproduce, makes you invisible to any form of senses. Unless someone is looking right at you, it's like you're not even there. Well, until you started producing those Void Flames of yours."

Naruto raised an eyebrow when Azazel explained this. "So you're saying that I'm pretty much the ultimate spy, and you want to make more of me? Isn't that pretty counterproductive for you? If more beings like me were out there they could spy on you too."

"Well yes, but at the same time it would give us the ability to blend in better. As the church is still hunting any of us it can find, even the ones that simply want to live a normal peaceful life, this would be a perfect way to prevent them from being followed." Azazel explained.

"And the perfect way to sneak into an enemy camp and kill them all without being found out. Perv, you may have the best intentions, but there are so many ways that can be turned against you. Just look what happened with the atom bomb humans built. The original idea was to make cheaper, safer power plants. Instead, it was weaponized." Naruto argued. Though his voice was calm, his face was dead serious. Seeing the other man about to defend his faction, Naruto pushed through. "You already said yourself that there were rogues in your group. What do you think would happen if they got their hands on this sort of ability?"

Azazel winced at that thought. He had thought this sort of thing would be great to escape hunters, or when he wanted to go fishing so others couldn't find him and bring him back. Just imagining the amount of damage a battle maniac like Kokabiel could do if no one could track him was frightening to the peace-loving pervert. "I hadn't thought of that." he finally admitted as he sunk into his seat.

"I'm not faulting your motives Uncle Az, just your forethought. The ability to completely disappear may not seem like a very destructive thing at first glance, but in the wrong hands could cause another war as easily as it could end one."

"Damn, now I know I'm losing my touch. I'm being lectured by a teenager, and he's right." Azazel moaned half-jokingly.

"Haven't you heard? Teenagers know everything." Naruto shot back with a cocky smirk.

"Watch it brat, I still pay your allowance."

"Speaking of, think I could get an advance on that? Food money is running kind of tight." Naruto asked, holding in a chuckle when Azazel dropped his face to the table.

"Why did I adopt you again?"

"Because you'd be bored otherwise?"

"Damned Brat." Azazel muttered.

The two other-worldly beings sat there for a while longer, allowing their conversation to travel across many other topics, from their different jobs to day to day life. Azazel finally was able to explain what he did in far more detail than their original conversation; which was more focused on Azazel trying to explain why he hid what he did from the blonde boy.

* * *

Koneko fell to her knees, panting as sweat dripped from the side of her face onto her hand. Her shirt, the same one she had taken to wear during the dodge ball match, was soaked and torn in many places, just barely maintaining her modesty. Yuto was a few feet behind her, equally as beaten but passed out, leaning against one of the many trees in the area. The opponents, the two had been facing stood before her, tired and sweating lightly but still able to continue. "I do believe that we are finished for tonight."

Koneko tried to stand and protest, only to fall again. "Don't wanna."

Naruto sighed before motioning his Shadow Clone to go collect Yuto, while he himself moved to pick up Koneko. "Kitten, any more and you'll do more harm to yourself than good. Yuto knocked himself out an hour ago, but you kept pushing. I'm proud of how far you've come, already able to train at level 5 gravity, but if you don't slow down and rest you'll just end up hurting yourself."

"Need to be stronger." The girl muttered as she was lifted onto the blonde ninja's back. "Like you."

"Kitten, I'm the exception, not the rule. Like I told everyone this morning. I was a Ninja last time around, a trained fighter; now I'm a Dragon, I don't follow the rules of normal, and likely never will." Naruto said with a chuckle. "However, you're learning very quickly, you're already starting to move in step with my attacks."

"Still can't hit you." The white-haired cat-girl said tiredly, already starting to fall asleep while being carried through the forest they'd been training in. Naruto had just returned from his meeting with Azazel when both Yuto and Koneko had appeared before him, requesting he step up their training. Akeno had even insisted that she be allowed to cook so he could help the two, as she and Rias trained Asia and Hikari in magic. While slightly surprised at them all seeming to be so fired up about the training, he wasn't about to turn them down. Even he knew he needed more training after the incident with Tabar.

Losing use of his flames greatly bothered him. They had been the deciding factor when he was fighting the fallen angels at the church to save Asia. Their release had been what saved Akeno and Rias from the Death worm after he'd died, but now just calling them out caused him to cough up blood and lose control of them. He'd spent weeks just getting enough control to make them come out without them trying to consume everything around him. Now he had to start all over. Only this time they may even try to consume him as well. With Rias's future on the line, he couldn't afford to play with a handicap like that.

He'd had to have a couple of his Shadow clones train with the two for several hours while he tried to regain any form of control over the flames. It had taken him two hours and more pain than he'd care to admit, but he had managed to summon and dispel a small amount of flame without losing control. However, he'd been coughing up blood for 20 minutes afterward. Once his chakra healed whatever was damaged, he gave up for the night and returned to training with his friends. While the two seemed to want to know what he was doing, they didn't push for answers as he replaced one of his clones in their sparring sessions.

Naruto didn't even make it to the backyard of his property when he started to hear light snoring in his ear, taking a quick glance back over his shoulder the boy started to chuckle lightly. Koneko, despite her insistence to continue training, was already asleep just from the walk back to the house, her small hand clenched tightly to his shirt. Looking over to his clone, he saw that Yuto was still passed out even as he was in a fireman's carry over the clones shoulder. Said clone was chuckling while shaking his head. "Well they have spunk, if nothing else." His copy said quietly to prevent waking either of them.

"That they do, but I'm starting to wonder about Yuto. He was a light sleeper in chemistry, but now he seems to always be in a near coma. That can't be healthy." The original replied.

"He's bringing it on himself, even when we tell him to take a break he just starts doing something else."

"Wonder if we can make some sort of equivalent to solider pills with alchemy?" Naruto said as they finally reached the house.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Called a new voice from the back door. Looking up, the two Narutos saw Rias standing in the doorway. She was leaning her left shoulder on the frame of the door while watching the approaching group. "They okay? You've been gone for quite awhile."

"They're fine, nothing a few hours of rest and a big meal won't fix." The Naruto holding Yuto said to the girl.

"Any dinner left, Red? I'm starving. I'm pretty sure the smell will wake these two up as well." The original announced.

Rias smiled lightly and nodded while she moved out of the doorway to let the weary group enter. "Yes, Akeno made sure to put aside a good amount for you three. Asia and Hikari also prepared the Furo for you; we figured you would want to clean up after training."

"Thanks, we'll need it. Prep's been napping in the dirt for an hour and Kitten didn't want to stop until she almost drowned in her own sweat." Naruto said with a chuckle while he and his clone laid both down in the dining room. Sending his clone to get a couple of towels for the two, the blonde boy made his way to the kitchen to reheat some food with Rias following him. "So what's on your mind Red? I know it was more than this Rating Game that's got you thinking."

Rias stopped as the two entered the kitchen. She started nibbling on her lower lip while she tried to come up with a way to ask her question. "What do you think of me?"

Naruto looked back at her oddly while he stopped portioning out the food. "How do you mean?"

Rias sighed as she moved to lean against the wall next to the door. "Well, I know we didn't really get off to the best start, with you being mad at me for how I revived you, the only way I could. Then the trust issues, arguments, and everything else; but you got along with everyone else so much better than me. You never told me anything about yourself, but from what I saw when you were explaining stuff this morning, Koneko and Hikari already knew about it. So I just want to know what you really think of me."

Naruto sighed as he set down the plates he'd dished out. "I'll be blunt Red. When we first met, I thought you were a spoiled rich kid that got by on her good looks and had everything handed to her. Your introduction to Devil life style didn't help matters, by the way. It basically sounded like 'Hey! You died for me, so now you're my slave'. Not the best way to say this stuff Red, you really need to work on that." Rias winced at that, as she remembered how badly that whole conversation went. Naruto shook his head while chuckling, putting the first plate into the microwave, before he continued. "But, I'll admit I wasn't completely right about you. Yes, you were a bit spoiled and you could get everything handed to you because of your good looks, but you don't want that. You work hard to get people to see you as yourself. You're very caring about those close to you, and aren't afraid to get dirty when it comes down to it. I can respect that. You are also getting better with this whole servant/master outlook which; while okay in the bedroom, I'm really not a fan of otherwise." Rias blushed a bit at the comment about bedroom games, something she would have expected from Akeno, not the blonde Dragon-kin in front of her.

"So I'm kind of your friend?" Rias asked, a bit unsure of what he was saying.

"Nope." Naruto said simply, switching the plates that he was heating up. Rias's whole demeanor dropped when he said that, sadness clearly building in her eyes before Naruto finished his statement. "You're family."

"Wha?!" Rias's head shot up in shock, earlier depression gone.

"What, you don't think I'd have gone out of my way to get this house for all of us if I didn't consider you close enough to think you part of my life, did you?" Naruto said with a grin. "As I've told Koneko before, I may not know love, or really any true emotion, but I am empathic to a degree. I know you care about us all, and worry about us, at first I thought it was a possessive worry like that of an item. However, the longer I was around, the more I saw that it was a genuine caring that you had. Admittedly odd ways of showing it, but you truly care for all of us as family, as far as I can tell. If you think of us as such, then I can do the same, at least."

Rias smiled tenderly with a blush of real happiness on her cheeks before she walked up and hugged him. "You know, for someone who says he can't feel emotions, you really have a way of drawing them out of others."

"Really?" Naruto asked while he awkwardly patted Rias back. "Cause I have no idea what I said to make you want to hug me."

"Just shut up and hug me back." Rias said with a small giggle.

* * *

Sona and Rias walked side by side towards the club room. Sona couldn't hold back the twitch in her eyebrow as she knew where this coming meeting would lead. She had seen the other two of the perverted Trio; both were covered in pink feathers that wouldn't come off so she knew the last was likely the same. Since the boy knew the person who likely did the punishment, she assumed he was likely here to find the way to remove them. She had come to collect him and add to his punishment, and likely have to ask forgiveness from the blonde dragon.

Rias had warned her she would have to be quick, as a meeting was going to be happening very soon that would not be pleasant. Grayfia was already in the room with Rias's Peerage, and Riser would be arriving soon so she was hoping that she could just get her wayward Pawn, apologize and leave. The high pitched scream coming from the room down the hall ended that thought quickly, and only caused the student council president to sigh aloud. "I'm starting to believe that Hyodo-san is more trouble than he is worth." The pink eyed devil muttered out.

"I am beginning to think I got off lucky, having you end up with him." Rias agreed quietly with her old friend. Shaking her head, they made their way towards the club room door. They, however, weren't able to open it before it was smashed into the wall across the hall; propelled by a pink and blue rocket. Blinking a few times to clear the surprise from almost being hit by the door to the room, both girls looked to where the door landed and saw it was Sona's pawn. He was frozen upside down to the door while still being completely covered in pink feathers. Looking in the direction he came from, they saw Grayfia standing behind one of the couches with her arm extended towards the frozen boy, her eyebrow twitching dangerously.

"The difference between Perverted and annoying is I get hit less violently, moron." Naruto's voice called out from the club room.

"Hai!" Issei managed to groan out before passing out.

"I apologize Ojou-sama." Grayfia said as she bowed low to the young red-haired girl in the doorway. "I'm afraid my temper got the better of me when he tried to touch me."

Rias sighed and was about to reply when Naruto decided he should cut in to the conversation before the maid decided to take the blame, and likely get herself in trouble. "Hey Red, don't listen to Maid-chan; I was riling everyone up before Perv came busting in, got a little to full of himself and tried to get a handful for himself."

"Naru-kun, when AREN'T you riling people up?" Rias asked, a smirk on her face. Something that she very much enjoyed about Naruto was his way of lightening the atmosphere. The boy was sitting on the couch across the room from her brother's queen, Koneko once more seated on the boy's lap. Yuto was sitting next to the pair, enjoying a cup of tea that Akeno was serving to everyone.

"Is that a trick question? Oie!" Naruto turned to mock glare at Koneko, who had started poking his ribs.

"Baka." Asia, who was standing behind Naruto, giggled lightly at the white haired girl's comment.

"Ufufu, Ghosty-kun you really should behave yourself with Koneko-chan so near." Akeno said even as she was having trouble trying to control her laugher. "Oh Sitri-sama, what can we do for you?"

"I'm only here to collect my wayward pawn, again, and express my apologizes to your group Akeno-sama." Sona said as she bowed to the group. As her head was down, she missed Grayfia's wide eyed look, as the heir to the Sitri house referring to a servant as 'sama'. "I also express my deep apologizes to you Lucifuge-sama for Hyodo-san's actions against you."

"No Sitri-sama, it is I who must apologizes for my actions against your pawn. It was not my place to discipline him. Also, please do not refer to one such as me so highly, it is unbecoming of the Heir to House Sitri." Turning her bow toward Sona as she did so.

Sona quickly turned her eyes towards Naruto, only to see the boy shake his head slightly. Grimacing slightly, Sona swallowed her pride and spoke. "I'm afraid, due to extenuating circumstances, I cannot do that Lucifuge-sama. As it is a matter of family honor, I cannot explain further, but for the time being I must continue this course." Naruto raised an eyebrow, as he expected her to say it was his fault rather than defy the powerful maid.

The group's conversation was once again interrupted, only this time by a flaming teleportation circle which marked the entrance of a blonde man. The man was dressed in a well tailored black suit coat and pants, along with shining black dress shoes. The high collared white button down shirt he wore under the coat was left open down to his stomach exposing his chest, while black undershirt could just be seen under it."Ah my lovely, I've come to see you."

"Wow, this guy's got the douchebag flashy entrance down to a tee." Naruto whispered over to Yuto, who was seated next to him and Koneko.

"Flashy fried chicken." Koneko muttered, her eyes narrowed and glaring at the man as he approached Rias.

"Now, I know its sudden Rias, but let's go and look over the ceremony site, the date has already been set." The man said as he gave a close eyes smile and wrapped an arm around her.

" **Let go of me, Riser!** " Rias growled out loudly while throwing him off of her, causing Naruto to gain a glare to match Koneko's. Seeing the man reaching for Rias again, his eyes still closed Naruto decided to act.

"Ahhh, Rias, you're acting so embarrassed." Riser said, his hand finding its place on a shoulder, a surprisingly hard one.

"I think it's you that needs to be embarrassed, as well as getting your eyes checked. I'm a blonde not a red head." An annoyed male voice said while brushing the hand off. Riser quickly opened his eyes in shock, which turned to anger.

"Who are you?" The youngest Phoenix son demanded.

"The guy you just tried to cop a feel off of. Sorry idiot but I'm straight." Naruto shot back coldly, his new found temper barely in check.

Flames started flickering around Riser's body as his own anger started to show from being mocked by who he thought was a lowly servant. "You dare mock me?! Do you know who I am?!"

"Do you really think I care?" Naruto countered, his eyebrow rising mockingly. "All I need to know is that you're NOT wanted and NOT taking the hint."

"I am the third son of the noble house of Phoenix, a pure-blood high-class devil!" Riser started to yell as Naruto simply turned his back on the yelling devil and approached where Rias was now sitting with Koneko on her lap. Both where very confused. "ARE YOU LISTENING!?"

"I already told you I don't care who you are, you charbroiled peacock." Naruto said, waving the other man off.

This only served to piss the arrogant man off more. Losing sight of his surroundings, Riser screamed and launched a large fire ball toward the waving blonde. Feeling the heat of the flames, Naruto whipped around. His once waving hand covered in black flames, sliced through the ball, causing it to disperse into the air. When the rapidly fading smoke cleared, Riser was treated to a sight that shook him. Naruto's eyes had shifted from icy blue to glowing garnet that radiated primal power, his teeth had also sharpened and lengthened.

Growling loudly, his anger starting the get the better of him, Naruto was about to launch towards the flame covered man, intent on ripping Riser to pieces as he had almost hurt his family. He didn't get a chance, as both his arms were caught by the two girls he'd just defended while Riser was restrained by a glowing Grayfia. Ice was covering the ground around the women and slowly starting to form on Riser's suit jacket. "You will stop now or, for the honor of my Master Lucifer-sama, I will not hold back." The silver haired maid said, staring directly into the young Phoenix's eyes.

"Naruto-kun, please calm down." Rias pleaded as she and Koneko were starting to move towards Riser and Grayfia, even while pulling back as hard as they could. The rest of the Peerage had to join the two girls to hold the whiskered boy from making it to his target.

The boy suddenly stopped his advance, his eyes and teeth returning to normal. He snorted and turned his back to his target when he saw Riser cowering from the silver haired women. Feeling something on his lip, he quickly reach his hand up and wiped away what his was sure was blood. As he turned away from everyone trying to hide it the boy growled under his breath "Coward."

"Since this obviously will not be settled peacefully." Grayfia started, keeping an eye on Naruto as he retook his seat, Koneko quickly joining him to keep him calmer. "If you insist on not willingly taking part in this wedding then how about settling this in a Rating Game?"

"As you know, Ojou-sama is not a mature devil so she cannot participate in an official match, but if it is an unofficial match, then even non-adult devils can participate." Grayfia explained.

"Which says that Father and the others knew I would refuse and decided to set up a Rating Game match beforehand. Just how far will they continue to interfere with my life before they are satisfied?" Rias grumbled to herself before turning to Riser. "Fine Riser, I challenge you to a Game."

"Really now? You know I've been in and won many matches already, even still you still wish to fight me?" Riser asked, his arrogances returning to his voice.

"Yes, I will make you disappear!" Rias said strongly, no hint of hesitation.

"Very well, but is this your entire Peerage?" Riser asked while waving to the group of devils that had taken to standing around Naruto to prevent the boy taking another run at the arrogant devil. "Because this game will be a joke if it is." The man flaunted as he swung his arm out, "Let me show you my cute servants!" A second flaming teleportation circle appear on the far side of the room releasing a full group of women from it.

Naruto raised an eyebrow while he looked over the group of woman that the man had summoned. While he could admit some of them felt strong, Naruto was sure that Riser had picked them more for looks rather than tactical value, as each was beautiful in their own right. He started putting names to faces he remembered from the files he'd looked over with Rias. The two strongest were a purple-haired women in a flowing white cape, who stood in front of the rest, Yubelluna. The other was a smaller blonde girl with hair in two drill-shaped ponytails. She seemed to be trying to come off as haunting but to Naruto she just looked like she was pouting cutely; Ravel Phoenix.

Directly behind the purple haired woman stood three slightly weaker girls; in terms of power. They didn't look much weaker in appearance compared to the drill haired girl, thought their energy level where a good deal smaller. The first was a black haired girl with a colourful Kimono who had a polite smile as she looked around, Mihae. Naruto would have sworn he just meet the black haired version of Asia with the way the girl's eyes traveled around the room with slight wonder and oddly polite happiness. She was placed between two women who were holding swords in ready but relaxed stances.

The woman on Mihae's left was covered in light-plate gray armor made for speed while still offering fair protection, Karlamine. She had sandy brown hair tied up by a white bandana and short broad sword. The swordswoman on the right had a white battle dress on with black gauntlets and greaves, Siris. Her hair was long and black, held up in an odd looking top-bound ponytail that broke into several smaller ponytails that were tied off at their ends in gold bands. Her sword was what really caused Naruto give her his full attention. She was easily holding up a giant Zweihänder as if held no weight to her, intoning that she had a great deal of practice with her choice of weapon and the strength to wield it correctly.

Standing at the outer wings of the group were two girls that stood more in defense stances. One of the girls had a mask covering half her face, with orange tinted brown hair with red streaks in her bangs, Isabela. She wore a tight leather jacket that was cut to expose her stomach, and jeans that had the right leg ripped off. Naruto would have guessed she was in a gang before becoming a devil, or based her clothes on that assumption. The other girl looked slightly younger than the gangster and looked like a Chinese martial artist; including hair buns and kung-fu dress, Xuelan.

The back line of girls were slightly eclectic. Two young, identical, green haired twins in school gym clothes wielding chainsaws, Ile and Nel if he remembered correctly. Two mid-teen twin cat girls in skimpy sailor type school uniforms, one with blue hair, Ni, the other with red, Li. Next to the cat girls were a couple of girls dressed in full black French maid uniforms, one with brown hair, Marion, the other with almost black, Burent. Following her was a women dressed like belly dancer. If he recalled right, she was named Shuriya. The final girl, Mira, was dressed like a shrine worker with a Bo staff that had both ends wrapped with a cloth bundle.

All and all Naruto could say, although attractive; something that could be attested to by the crying he could hear from the still frozen Issei in the hall, he was not overly impressed with their power. If they all were as strong as the purple-haired women or the drill-haired girl, he'd be worried. But as of now, he only saw three of them as a threat.

"Wasn't he just cowering in fear not three seconds ago?" Naruto muttered to the group around him.

"Baka, fried chicken." Koneko said again.

"I wonder if I can breathe fire?" Naruto randomly muttered.

"What?" Yuto asked.

"Well I just thought I could use the time this hot air bag was wasting to contemplate something more intelligent, so I was wondering if I could breathe fire now." Naruto replied, causing Akeno and Rias to start giggling while Asia actually starting considering it. Koneko and Sona, who had decided to stay and watch the meeting, only sighed while Yuto looked worried.

"Please tell me you're not going to try to perfect doing that on me?" Yuto asked in worry.

"Have to figure out if I can first." Naruto said, waving off the other boy's worry. Most of the women in the room started to giggle at the two boy's banter. Even a couple of the girls in Riser's Peerage had trouble holding back their laughter.

"Are you quite finished, you low class, trash?" Riser demanded again, aggravation clear in his voice.

"Are you still here? I'm fairly sure no one ordered fried chicken for lunch, so you can go." Naruto's mockingly countered, his posture seemingly relaxed.

"You dare mock Riser-sama?!" One of the girls from the man peerage shouted before she launched herself at the seated whiskered boy. The girl lifted her double ended staff to try and strike him in the chest, even if Koneko could have been hit as well. All the girl's speed was stopped instantly as her staff hit Naruto's out stretched hand, which didn't move a bit from the impact. Daring to look up, the staff-welding girl froze in place as sweat started to form on her brow, glowing slitted red eyes glared down at her from his seat.

"I dare." Naruto growled back, as his energy started to fill the room, all of Risers peerage took an involuntary step back. Riser himself was about to make another attempt to attack, hoping to encourage his servants more, but a loud deep growling stopped him and frightened his Peerage even more. From behind Naruto's chair, the large form of Tabar entered the room through a shadow, his wings and fangs on full display.

Riser's eyes opened even more in shock as he watched the legendary Monarch shadow wolf take up a position of guarding the blonde that had mocked and insulted him since he had entered the club room, to retake what was his from the human world. Riser couldn't help but snarl as he saw how shaken his Peerage was from the blonde's display. Even his pawn Mira had quickly retreated behind him after the wolf appeared in the room.

Rias was having the opposite in lines of thought. The small display Naruto was showing; even if he hadn't called up his black flames, was truly inspiring hope in her. She had no doubts that Akeno and Koneko were feeling the same, as watching the arrogant man's entire Peerage flinch back from a glare and a small flare of power from her friend was truly a sight to behold.

"Hmph, Fine, the match will take place in 15 days' time. You can even pick the battlefield. Come, we're leaving." Riser barked out, as he activated his teleportation circle.

"The ass even barks like a chicken." Naruto snorted out just after the spell started, allowing him to be heard but too late for Riser to do or say anything back. Reaching down, he started to scratch Tabar's neck while he let everyone laugh to relieve some tension the meeting had caused. "So I think we're going to need a place to train, cause the woods behind my place aren't going to be big enough for fast pace long term training like we are going to need."

* * *

"Yeah, we're just going up to Red's vacation home for a few weeks." Naruto said into the phone. He was in his study at his place with all the others; they were currently packing their things for the extended training trip, something both Yuto and Koneko were excited for. "Nah, it's already been cleared with the school as a club activity, so I'm good there." It surprised him with how eager they seemed to be to do more of his training. Even when they often passed out right after he finished, and now they were likely to do so before he finished. "Ah okay, thanks, I'll need it before we leave." He was currently explaining to Azazel what was happening, even if it was slightly vague.

"Nii-san, Rias-nee-chan says they should be ready to go in 5 minutes." Hikari's voice called out through the closed door.

Naruto pulled the phone away from his head before he called back. "Okay I'll be done in a minute." Going back to the phone as he turned away from the door. "You hear that?… Okay, yeah I'll let you know when I'm back in town, just let me know if you hear any more about the deal with the devil that set Asia up." That was something Naruto had learned during his conversation with Azazel on Sunday.

Raynare had made it back to Azazel with Karawarner, who was excused of wrongdoing when she had added a good deal to the black-haired fallen's report. A devil was apparently the one that had set up Asia's excommunication and then offered her up to the fallen angels for her Sacred Gear. While they didn't know the devils name, or why he had done it, none had counted on Naruto's interference. Now while Asia was safer due to her being a devil, Azazel and Raynare both warned him that the devil wasn't likely to give up.

He'd also been warned that Kokabiel was very upset about Mastema's death, and demanding that the fallen's killer be found. Azazel was blocking all of Kokabiel's attempts to find out who was involved but warned Naruto all the same, as the Fallen was already on the verge of being declared rogue.

"Right, thanks Uncle." Naruto said before finally hanging up. Grabbing the storage scroll with all his extra equipment, Naruto started for the door, though he didn't show it as much as the others that he was looking forward to this trip as well. He'd remembered his training for the Rasengan last night, so he now had three things he was planning on working on. Azazel had called him to let him know he'd paid of Naruto's credit card, so he now had money for supplies for his training as well.

Picking up the full backpack, which he had his clones prepare for him while he spoke to Azazel, the blonde boy walked out to see everyone else was just arriving in the living room. "Everyone ready?" Getting nods from all, Naruto nodded back and started towards the door. "Okay, lets lock up then head to the store, I need some training gear for myself. If anyone else needs anything, get it."

"We have a lot of stuff at the house Naru-kun, what else could you need?" Rias asked, she was fairly sure all the training equipment they would need was already ready at her family vacation home.

Naruto only grinned "Trust me when I say you won't have it. They'll seem pretty random."

"Nii-san, everything you do seems random." Hikari deadpanned at him. Naruto turned to defend himself, only to get matching looks from everyone in the group. Even Asia couldn't stop herself from giving him a flat look.

"Am I really that bad?"

"Who carries around contact cement and dyed pink chicken feathers?" Yuto questioned, showing a bit of the random acts Naruto seemed to do.

"They came in handy, didn't they?"

"You crawled across the teacher's desk to sleep at lunch, Ghosty-kun."

"I was tired, and the other desks weren't big enough to lie down on."

"You took the coffee maker from the staff room and plugged it in on my desk during chemistry class." Yuto added in again.

"Hey, that one helped you stay away for an entire class for once." Naruto cut in.

"It also got me detention."

"Blah, you were out again in like 10 minutes 'cause your fangirls scared the teacher." Naruto said, waving off the other blonde's near detention as he lead them out of the gate of his house. By this point, everyone else was laughing as the two blonde boys traded shots with each other. Their interaction a clear indication of how close they had become as friends; to the point that most passerby's would think they had been friends all their lives rather the only a few months.

Naruto didn't even stop his back and forth with Yuto when Koneko slipped forward and took hold of his hand. He did raise an eyebrow when he saw Hikari copy the cat girl's actions with the blonde Knight. The fact that said Knight copied his actions; holding her hand without turning away from the whiskered boy, just seemed oddly amusing to the ninja.

Hikari holding Yuto's hand without protest would be spreading like wild fire by the time they came back from the trip, leaving a lot of girls heartbroken; and with Yuto to have to clear up a lot of rumors. Naruto would have felt sorry for what the boy was doing to himself if it wasn't so funny. From the looks of mischief and amusement in Rias and Akeno's eyes they were thinking the same thing.

Pushing the thoughts aside for now, Naruto lead the group into one of the malls in the nearby area to his house. He had a large supply of balloons and rubber balls to buy.

* * *

Back in the swirling chaotic nexus of colour and stone, the short gothic girl with a purple dress and long black hair stood before two kneeling figures. The first was a sharp-faced teen with side swept silver gray hair. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and a dark green undershirt. His pants were made of black denim with a chain hanging from his left side; combat boot finished his outfit off. The teen was tall and thin, giving him a strong yet wiry look, but he didn't look unhealthy or underfed.

Next to the silver haired teen was a young woman with long black hair and voluptuous body, she was dressed in a loose-fitting black and red kimono that was tied closed with a large golden ribbon. The woman looked to be slightly shorter than the teen but her face showed a matured yet playful woman. The most defining features on the woman were her two large cat-like ears rising out of her hair and the two black tails that peaked out the bottom of her kimono.

The young-looking girl let her eyes scan over the two people before her, while her face betrayed nothing of her thoughts or emotions. "Vali, Kuroka. I have felt a great release of energy from within Japan. A being with powers not unlike my own has awakened there, find him and bring him to me."

"Yes Ophis-sama." The two said in unison. After a moment of waiting for more details, the silver-haired teen looked up towards the young looking girl "Ophis-sama, is there anything else you can tell us about him?"

Ophis sat back down in her throne-like chair and closed her eyes for a moment, while the two waited patiently. After a few moments, Ophis opened her eyes once more and looked toward the silver teen. "Only that he is a dragon, and he was in the area of Kuoh two weeks ago. He has an ability to completely conceal himself."

Vali's eyes narrowed slightly while he staring downwards in thought, such ability would be both very handy and very irritating. While they had an idea where the target was in general, without the ability to sense him in any way it was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack. "Very well Ophis-sama, we will leave immediately."

Ophis looked at the two for a moment as they stood up to leave her realm. "He is a dragon, so he's not to be underestimated. Bring him to me, it matters not how long is needed."

Vali almost sighed in relief when he heard that, he held it in successfully but just barely. "As you wish, Ophis-sama." The teen said as he led Kuroka out of the portal to the powerful being's realm.

Once they were outside, Kuroka released her own sigh of relief. While she wasn't as restrained as her silver haired team leader, she knew she shouldn't act out in front of the girl that was known as 'the infinite dragon god' if she wanted to live for long. "If she can't even sense this guy, how exactly are we supposed to find him?" she asked while stretched out her back by leaning backwards with her arms held out over her head.

Vali looked back at the stretching cat woman for a moment before he turned his eyes forward. "When you are looking for a needle in a haystack, you use a magnet. Ophis-sama said the target is a Dragon. Dragons naturally seek out strong opponents. So all we need do is stay in the area while surveying the town, and he will appear before us."

Kuroka blinked, until she remembered his Sacred Gear had a dragon sealed inside of it too. "That makes sense, and it's a good thing Ophis-sama didn't give us a time limit then. But isn't Kuoh under Devil control? How are all of us going to get in and stay unnoticed?" At the end of her question, she tilted her head to the side and blinked cutely at him, while having her index finger touching her chin lightly.

Vali didn't even look back at her, thereby ruining her attempt to get a rise out of him. He'd become all too used to her flirting by now, so he could ignore it mostly. Although she could still catch him off guard once in a while. She acted like this with almost everyone so he knew that there was little point in trying to stop her or comment on it. "Once there, we will have to suppress our auras until La Fay can set up a barrier around our base of operations. We will work out surveillance after we are there and have a lay of the land."

Kuroka pouted a bit at the fact that the boy didn't even look her way, but quickly pushed the thought out. Thinking over what he had said, she nodded. "I'll be able to get a quick scan of where most of the supernaturals are generally located so we have an idea of who we are looking at. Can we assume the target will be with one of the groups?" Even if she was flirty, she knew she was here for a reason, and she had to be serious sometimes.

Vali nodded as she went over her idea. He stopped and turned to her as they reached the door to his team's lounge. "No, while it is possible that he is affiliated with one of the supernatural groups, Ophis-sama said that he has just awakened, so he may not have come in contact with any other supernatural beings yet." Vali explained. The silver haired teen didn't give the woman behind him another chance to talk before he pushed open the door and entered.

The lounge was a very well decorated room. Set up like a manor home in a classical time period. Large flowing dark red drapes half covered the wall-length window on the far wall from the entrance, allowing in enough light without it being blinding. The windows themselves were magically set to show a mountainside view of a valley that was parted by a river. Vali never could figure out if the view was of a real place or if the caster had simply made the place up.

In the center of the room was a large square low set table, surrounded by padded wood couches, one for each face of the table. The couches were all identical, three seats on burgundy cloth covered padding and swooping high backs. Decorative vines and leaves were carved into the wood that lined the couches. The walls were lined with bookshelves and work desks, each covered in various different items and topics of study. The stone floor was covered in a large throw rug, black in colour.

Scattered around the room in different places were the rest of his teammates. Arthur Pendragon, who was another teen around his age, with blonde hair that was tied in a braid the hung in front of his left shoulder. Arthur wore nobility-styled dress suit complete with a flaring blue tie. He wore silver wire-rimmed glasses, giving him the air of a well-to-do student from a protégés school, rather than the deadly swordsmen Vali knew him to be. Arthur was sitting next to his sister, going over an old journal trying to translate it.

Arthur's sister, La Fay Pendragon, was a cute blonde girl who was dressed in a light blue stereotypical witch outfit, including pointed hat, a cape covered in small pink flowers and broom off to the side next to her. The girl's demeanor was practically night and day from her brother's. Where Arthur was stiff and noble, La Fay was happy-go-lucky. While she would worry about the others when they were on missions or hurt, she never stayed that way and returned to her cheerful personality soon afterward.

The last of his team was the Monkey youkai, Bikou. Bikou was a normally loud and boisterous person who could match Vali's own battle lust. Currently however, he was snoring very loudly as he lay sprawled across one of the couches in the room. The monkey was clothed mostly in a tight armor vest and loose fitting black pants; his short normally spiky hair was now matted down from sleep as a line of drool ran down his cheek.

Vali stared at the sleeping man for a moment before turning to Kuroka. "And you WANT me to act more like him?" He asked while pointing towards the drooling man.

"Err, not exactly like him, just relax more." Kuroka tried to say, the sweat drop running down her head indicating she was thinking similar thoughts upon seeing the sleeping Youkai. "Forget I asked. Please?"

"With pleasure." Vali replied.

* * *

Naurto sat silently, staring up at the full moon in the night sky, wind gently brushing his hair. Koneko was sleeping soundly, using his chest as her pillow, while his back was pressed in to a tree near a cliff face. Naruto was in a muscle shirt and pants, his jacket folded beside him; while Koneko was in a light shirt and track pants. Both of them were covered in a light sheen of sweat, their clothing damp and clinging to them. All around the pair were a good thirty some copies of the blonde boy, each quietly holding a water balloon in their hand with looks of concentration on their faces.

The mountain and forested area around Rias' family vacation home was surprisingly comforting to the normally high strung blonde. Even if he'd never been here before, Naruto found himself feeling a surprising amount of familiarity with the environment that put him at ease. Even just sitting here with someone leaning on him, an act that would almost always cause his muscles to tense in the past, he found himself relaxing more easily.

He still had a lot on his mind; things from his past, his Rasengan training and how he got his necklace. Thoughts of things from his present: such as what had happened during his fight with Mastema that caused the void flames to start hurting him, and the upcoming battle against Riser and his Peerage. He even had thoughts for the future, such as what he was going to do with everyone here if he could travel to other worlds once his magic evolved enough, and what he really felt about the people he had surround himself with.

Before, he could have easily said he'd leave everyone behind and not look back. He'd done it enough in his youth in this world, but now he was not entirely sure if he could truly leave. He had meant it when he'd told Rias he thought of them all as a part of his life, and he wanted them there, but until right now; with this unique calm allowing him to relax his overworked mind, did he realize how truly understand how important to him the group had become. The girl currently snuggling into his chest had been a constant companion to him, always reminding him that he wasn't alone anymore, even when he had said he didn't need such, she didn't leave him.

His taking in Hikari had been a whim originally, as he honestly thought she'd have been on her way within a few days, a week at most. To him, helping her had been a simple impersonal good deed, like with his vigilante fights: get in, do what needs doing, and be on his way. Then they could put the experience behind them and move on with their lives, never seeing him again and never feeling indebted to him. His new memories made him now realize why he fashioned his fighting ethic off Ninjas, even if they were very different from the Shinobi of his world. Things didn't turn out the way he planned, and she had made her way into his heart, that was something he didn't thing possible at the time.

Between the two younger girls, Naruto had finally opened his walls a bit, allowing for the others to worm their way into his life. He openly admitted he still wasn't used to this many people and had trouble dealing with them sometimes, but all of them were patient with him. Yuto would stay up with him some nights just being normal guys, watching action movies, playing cards and talking about weapons. They'd even swapped funny stories of stupid things they'd done in the past.

Akeno and Rias had even had an effect on him. He was getting used to people touching him without him reacting instinctively, either by moving away or lashing out. He was very glad that Akeno was the Queen of Rias's Peerage, as her speed allowed her to get away when she had surprised him, and he spun around with a fist. He'd managed to pull it when he saw who it was, but she had also reacted, quickly stepping away. That had been very embarrassing for him, as he thought he had better control of himself then that. Akeno had forgiven him and apologized quickly for scaring him, but that reaction had confirmed for them he was very troubled.

The fact that they had doubled their efforts to get him used to them, rather than back away, confused and comforted him. ' _Koneko was right, this group is what I needed. For all their faults, they really are family._ ' Naruto thought, with a small smile crossing his lips. The proof of how much good they had done him could be seen in Asia. He'd made an effort to interact with the girl. He had been the one to reach out rather than pick up the pieces like he had with Hikari, or what the ORC had done with him. Now the girl was truly smiling when they talked or were hanging out. She always seemed to gravitate towards him more than anyone else, with Hikari as a very close second; but he put that off as hero worship more than a connection, something that would pass with time.

Feeling a purr and slight rustling, Naruto looked down at his white-haired training companion. The girl had pushed herself to the point that she'd fallen down asleep without even making it a step towards the house, and as Naruto hadn't even started his private training, he couldn't return. He could have sent her back with a shadow clone, but most of his Chakra was going to be needed to heal him as he worked on his flame recovery, and what he had to spare was being divided to relearn the Rasengan. He also noticed goose bumps' forming on the girl's arms as the light breeze was enough to pull away the body heat from the pair. While this was fine for Naruto, as he was still very warm, the resting girl was likely to catch a chill if left alone.

Naruto slowly adjusted himself so that his arms were free to move, and carefully reached around himself to grab his discarded jacket. Pulling the resting girl up a little more towards him, he pulled the coat over her upper body as well as himself a little, just enough that both were covered and comfortable. Once he was sure the girl wasn't going to wake, he leaned himself back more onto the tree. "One of you guys wake me once you are done. Someone has to replace me while I work, but I don't want her waking up." The boy called quietly to his clones. The closest clone nodded before he moved to inform the rest. Confidant he wouldn't over-sleep, the blonde boy closed his eyes to rest and enjoy the fresh night air with his once again purring companion.

He was awakened several hours later to his clone leaning over him with a cup of coffee, a very small campfire burning a few feet away in a cleared out area of the forest. Naruto surprisingly wasn't as tired as he normally was in the morning, and was easily able to switch himself with the body pillow his clone had insightfully gotten them when he was resting. Looking over the girl while he took the coffee with a nod; to which his clone dispelled after receiving, Naruto saw that his clones had covered them both with an unzipped sleeping bag at some point in the night.

Naruto grinned a bit, taking a sip from the metal camping cup. He really hadn't been expecting to have a fully furnished mansion waiting for them when he'd set out for this trip, and as such had packed for a camping trip. He had a tent out here that he could sleep in if needed, as well as all the needed equipment to hunt, fish or anything else he may need during the time he was away from town. He'd told Yuto that to get the best results from this trip he should rough it as well, and the other boy had taken his words to heart and carried a blanket and pillow in to a separate section of the woods to train, saying he'd be back for food the next day.

Naruto had a clone watching him, and would let the whiskered Dragon-kin know if Yuto needed anything or was in need of help. As both Yuto and Koneko had their gravity seal adjusted to use magic now, they could control them themselves, so his assistance wasn't needed. He refused to just end his training of Yuto there however, so a clone without the gravity seal would always be around to spar with Yuto at noon this allowing the blonde Knight to get used to dealing with faster opponents, and inform the boy when he should increase his seal level.

Finishing his coffee, Naruto returned to the present. Forming two more clones, one to go replace the one watching over the blonde boy and one to cook breakfast. Naruto heading towards where he knew there was a rocky area of the mountain so that he could start his own training. He knew that if he tried using his flames in the forest there wouldn't be anything left of the area he trained in. Also, he enjoyed the feel of the forest in this area, so he wasn't going to take the chance of losing it by mistake.

Once he entered the rocky area, he spotted the gorge that one of his clones had located. It was only a hundred meters or so away from the forest but it was also a good fifty meters deep as well. That was what made it perfect for him to try and regain control over his Void based abilities. That was something that he knew he needed to do, even if he was very sure it was going to be incredibly painful to do. He took several steps toward the gorge before stopping. Thinking over what he was about to do, he sighed aloud. Looking up into the star filled sky, he wondered how he was going to go about this to ensure he wasn't caught. He knew if his companions were aware of how much this was hurting him, they'd either worry or try to stop him. This was something he couldn't allow on either account, they had their own problems to worry about, and he was their support, not the other way around. They were already doing so much for him, he couldn't ask them to do more. On the other hand, if he didn't relearn control of the flames, they could come out at the worst moments and hurt the others, something he couldn't allow to happen.

Thinking over his options for a few minutes, Naruto nodded to himself and crossed his fingers into a plus shape with his index and middle fingers from both hands. In moments, another of the blonde stood in the clearing next to the original. "Stay out of view for now. If the flames stop but I'm not up in 10 minutes, come get me."

"Got it boss, if Kitten comes looking before you're done?" The clone asked.

"Make two clones, one to dispel to warn me, and one to come get me while you distract her. She's the one that would worry about us most." Naruto said after he thought about it for a minute. After the clone nodded and jumped into a tree, the original moved to the edge of the gorge. He only hesitated a moment so that he could find the flames of nothingness inside himself. Tilted forward, he let himself fall into the fifty foot drop before calling his newest power out once more.

The clone that was left to guard the area between forest and the gorge, which his creator had dropped into, was treated to the sight of the entire landscape being lit up by a massive ball of black fire expelled into the night sky. A few moments later, the process repeated itself, then again and again.

After two hours, the clone dragged a exhausted and soaking wet Naruto back into his camp site; Koneko still sleeping, though less contently, under the tree. "Damn boss you look horrible." The clone that stayed behind said as he saw the boy carried into the camp.

"I feel it too." Naruto barely managed to say, his voice harsh and cracking. The clone quickly grabbed a towel and handed it to his creator. Said creator took the towel, only to start to fall forwards from pain and exhaustion. However, he was caught by a large collection of shadows pulsing up from the ground and holding him in place. "Thank you, Tabar."

From the shadows cast by the camp fire, Naruto's new familiar slowly raised and moved towards his master. The large being gave a low whine when he saw the state of his Alpha, nuzzling the man's hand with his snout. "Yeah, I'll be okay. Just overworked myself." Tabar whined lightly before licking the boy's hand, to which the boy responded by petting him.

"We really need to think of a real name for him. Tabar's a great joke, and can be what we call him at home as a nickname, but it just doesn't feel right for him." One of the clones said as he started digging out a dry shirt for the original.

"I know and I'm working on it. Nicknames are easy; coming up with real names, not so much." Naruto commented as he toweled himself off, pulling the drenched, ruined muscle shirt off. "I'm looking through as many legends and myths as I can find, just haven't found anything fitting yet." Naruto explained. As he caught the shirt his clone tossed to him, he saw the slightly confused look on the wolf's face and chuckled, "You didn't really think Tabar was all I was going to call you, did you?" He laughed a bit more when the wolf nodded. "Nah that's just among family, just like how I nicknamed everyone else. Once you've done something that inspires a name, I'll give you a real one."

The wolf nodded and started panting lightly, almost like he was smiling at the boy, happy that the threat of become a car part was more joke than reminder now. Nothing else was said as he followed his master back to where he slipped back into bed next to the white-hair cat youkai. Before both dropped off to sleep, tomorrow all would start the new training schedule to prepare them for the battle that would decided their red-haired friend's future.

To be continued

 **Omake: The Other Birth of the Void Dragon** (Totally blame this one on Dadlop3)

 _18 years ago..._

Ophis, the Infinity Dragon God, glares at the person in front of her. It was the face of her nemesis, the only being in the universe that could challenge her power, one that did so at every given opportunity: The Dragon of Dreams and Illusions, Great Red.

"Why have you called me here?" The Strongest Being asked in her current human form. She was around 5' 11" with long black hair reaching her knees, crystal amethyst eyes, and very well endowed breasts that borderlined E-cup. Covering her body was a long, dark-purple evening dress with black accents. She was currently standing on a large platform made of pure white marble that floated in the middle of a sea of colours.

 _": I've come with a challenge for you. :"_ The large dragon called back, his voice reverberating through her mind. _": Should you win, I will leave the gap and not bother you again for at least 1000 years. :"_

Ophis stared back with narrowed eyes filled with suspicions. "And if you win?" she asked carefully with some hint of anticipation.

 _": If I win, you must only use a child form when you're in a human body for an equal amount of time. :"_ Great Red proposed.

She paused briefly to think about it. A chance for Great Red to leave her home for millennium at the sake of her being in a childlike form for said amount of time? "Very well." It was a no brainer. "What is your challenge?" Ophis inquired with some eagerness.

The True Dragon suddenly seemed to shrink into himself slowly while moving towards the platform that Ophis waited on. Soon, where was once a mountain-sized dragon now stood a 6'2 buff man with bright red hair and golden bangs. He was dressed in a sharp, dark-red business suit that had the top two buttons of the shirt undone. Holding one hand to the side, the human form of Great Red summoned four tanker sized barrels.

Rising a golden goblet and smirking all the while, "Why, a drinking contest of course."

 _Present..._

"... and that leads us to here," the young girl form of Ophis explained before stepping up to the people standing before her. They were once again on the marble platform that she had been in the past. With her were two other people: one had 12 large, jet-black angel wings from his back and black hair with blonde bangs; the other had large black and red draconic wings, bright blonde hair and whisker marks on each cheeks. Off to the side of the platform, also floating aside Ophis, was the dragon form of Great Red.

She extended a hand. "Now, come. Join me Naruto, for I am your mother."

 _": No. :"_ Great Red's voice called out, echoing in everyone present's minds. _": Join_ me, _Naruto, for I am your father. :"_

Naruto stared hard at both of the dragons in front of him as he tried to absorb what he had just been told.

"So let me get this straight," Azazel started slowly. Shooting a sideways glance, Oblivion Dragon could see that if Uncle Az widened his eyes any farther, they were likely to fall out of his head. "You," he pointed toward Ophis, "and you," he pointed Great Red, "had a drinking contest and during said drinking contest you made him," he then pointed toward Naruto.

"Yes/ _Yes. :"_

Azazel blinked.

Slowly turning his slitted blue eyes back towards the waiting dragons that were claiming to be his parents, Naruto tried to discern how he should feel about this development. It only took him a few seconds before he glared at his empty coffee cup to come to a conclusion: "Fuck this shit." He then proceed to throw said cup on the ground, shattering it instantly. Turning toward Azazel, "We're going drinking: I'm going to need something a _HELL of a lot harder_ than coffee," he exclaimed. "And you're buying," he added as an afterthought.

Azazel looked to his charge.

Then back towards the dragons.

Before looking back at Naruto once more.

Nodding, "Deal."

Dadlop3: A drunk Great Red hitting up Ophis was the best idea I've ever had.


	9. Training Ace

Trying Again 9

Koneko grunted while sliding backward into a tree, her guard stance not falling even with the impact. It was day three of the group's 15 day training period and since they had arrived all the white haired girl was doing was sparring with the blonde across from her. She'd raised her gravity seal to level six while Naruto had added a resistance seal, making the air feel like mud even with the gravity their combined effects, she was barely moving but still she pushed to train. At the end of yesterday's training, Naruto had lead Asia to their camp site so the nun could heal the pulled and torn muscles they both had. He'd also brought back enough food to last them till tomorrow.

Asia also explained that she was trying to expand her magic reserves, and try to do learn other healing spells. The three had talked at length of the goals they intended and Naruto had made suggestions that Asia starts studying barrier techniques so that she could heal and protect at the same time. To Koneko, the nun looked like she was hearing Naruto's words as law, even if, said blond male was more focused on consuming as much Ramen as possible, which was slightly disturbing to watch.

Flashback.

"Naruto-san you shouldn't eat so quickly you could choke." Asia said, mentally agreeing with Koneko even if she didn't know it.

Naruto finished swallowing his last mouth full of Raman from his third bowl, as he'd eaten some sushi and rice to help fill him up. "This is nothing Goldie; I am trying to keep down my pace as I don't want to disgust you girls"

"Disturbing." Was all Koneko could say while she stared at the boy. Naruto just gave a small smirk as he tossed the empty dish into the garbage bag he had gotten from the house. "What are we training in next Naruto-sempai?"

"Why do neither of you ever just call me Naruto?" The blonde boy countered with his own question. Asia tried to stutter out a reply, something about disrespectful, but Naruto couldn't really make it out. Koneko just stared at him blankly waiting for her answer. With a soft sigh he decided to just answer the younger girl. "Right now I'm working on trying to get your endurance up so that you can keep up with me longer. Currently you can last about 20 minutes full out before your stamina gives out, with the sparring you're starting to instinctively pick up on my style and how to counter it. If there was a way for you to recuperate more energy it'd be easier."

"Ano, could I help?" Asia asked shyly, getting a small smile from Naruto and a grateful look from Koneko.

"Sorry Goldie, you already told me your gear doesn't heal stamina nor do you know any spells for that." Naruto said. Asia's mood fell while when she heard that.

"Stop holding back," Koneko said to Naruto. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the request from the girl. "No flames, you're holding back."

"Ah, I'm trying to get my Flames back under control; they have been acting up since the church," Naruto said while leaning back a bit to stretch out his back, he released a soft content groan when a loud pop sound. "So until I have my control back I can't use my flames in a spar."

"Mooo, I'm sorry Naruto-san. It's my fault that you lost… Owi." Asia stopping and was rubbing her forehead where Naruto lightly flicked her.

"Nothing that happened there was your fault, Goldie. You where just a victim of circumstance, do not blame yourself." Naruto said smiling at the blonde girl

"Sempai is right." Koneko said with a nod.

Asia looked between the two with tears in her eyes but the wide smile on her face let them both know that she was far from upset. "Hai!" she got out with some effort, as to not choke on her words.

"Good now let's figure out what we are all doing tomorrow."

Flashback end.

"Well Kitten from the way you're legs are shaking we're going to have to call it for now. You're getting better though." Naruto said as he moved to walk off, only to have to stop and bend backwards as a foot flashed in front of his face. "eh?"

"Not done!" Koneko growled out, wisps of red energy around her.

Naruto raised to a standing position, sliding right into a stance without a thought, his eyes flashed into garnet slits of his energy sight. What he saw was fairly shocking. While she wasn't truly doing Senjutus as she had explained it to him, she was taking in energy and using it, his bleed off to be exact. "Well isn't that interesting."

Koneko, hyped up on Naruto strong chakra, attacked first. The girl threw a supercharged right hook that Naruto backflipped to avoid, planting one of his feet into her stomach to continue her flight. The girl turned her flight into a flip landing it before she turned herself into a spinkick that actually release a crescent wave of Naruto's red chakra. Said blonde needed to cover both his arms in his chakra cloak as he blocked the attack as to not lose anything important, as it was he still ended up with a large gash on his forearms.

With another growl the girl was on the blonde again in heartbeat, throwing punches and kicks far stronger then she had ever before. ' _She's showing this much improvement in strength and speed when using her senjutus wrong. Doing it right will be amazing._ ' That was when Naruto noticed something about his sparring partner; her eyes were unfocused and starting to gain a red hue to her golden irises. "You're running on instinct aren't you?" Frowning at the thought that the girl was going out of control over absorbing some of his chakra Naruto called out his flames to replace the chakra he was using to fuel his body.

Ducking another punch to the face Naruto shot out a swift palm stick to Koneko's stomach, with his flames just under his skin he was no longer feeding the white haired girls supply as well as the flames could consume the extra energy in the air through him. He just barely held back a wince when ebony flames shot out around his palm as it impacted into the Nekoshou's abs. He willed the fires away before they could burn his friend but he was sure this was going to be a long fight for control of his void abilities.

Falling into an offensive stance Naruto kept his hand open, as to do more pushing strikes rather than damaging attacks he'd do with fists or claws if they came out. His aim right now was to try and get Koneko to burn off his chakra, as she wasn't really controlling herself at the moment there would be little gained from having a real spar. With this thought in mind Naruto released his seal completely and kept his garnet eyes on the girl, who was now back to her feet and racing towards him at far better speeds then he'd seen from the girl before.

Shaking away the thoughts of how he could use this for training or in the match, as unless she could keep her head in battle it would be pointless.

* * *

Metal clashed against metal as sparks flew from the impact point. "Good, I'd say you're almost ready to increase the level again. You must be really pushing yourself Prep."

The fighters jumped back from each other as the blonde Knight swiped his hair back away from his face, the large amount of sweat he'd accumulated from his workout causing it to stay slicked back. "I'll believe that when I can hit you damnit." The youth grumbled. It seem that no matter how much he improved the ninja always stayed one step ahead, when it came to pure skill he knew he was the better swordsmen but Naruto had enough of a speed and reflex advantage that it negated most of his abilities.

"But hit me and you'll be out a sparring partner." The other blonde said as he moved back into a ready stance.

"Would do a world of good for my ego though, and it's not like more of his Shadow Clones can't be made."

"Oh I'm just feeling the love here Prep." The clone of the blonde ninja said sarcastically.

"Hmph." Yuto didn't really say anything; his response came in the form of him jumping forward in a downwards slash. While the attack form had been normal the attack itself was not, as a faint white glow covered Yuto's body. The Naruto clone managed to jump back and away from the attack zone just as Yuto crashed into the earth leaving a deeper crater then should have been possible for such an attack.

Naruto himself narrowed his eyes as he looked at the results of the attack, his eyes shifting from blue to red as he tracked all the energies in the clearing they'd been fighting in. ' _He's unconsciously channeling his magic through his body like I do Chakra and my flames._ ' Naruto thought before he got a grin on his face, while not perfected yet Yuto had just started to create his own techniques. If he can get the boy to start using them consciously then this could move the other boy onto a whole new level for his fights.

Those thoughts were tabled for another time and the now red eyed blonde had to catch his sparring partner as he fell unconscious from exhaustion. "Well Prep, at least now you get to see the results you wanted." The boy muttered as he lifted the knocked out Knight over his shoulder to carry him back to his camp site, Naruto was going to be interested in this.

He was more than happy that Yuto was starting to come up with his own counters and new moves to work with, as Naruto himself wasn't as skilled in swordsmanship. He'd lost more than few against the smaller blonde when they worked strictly on skill and the ninja had to play by the knight's rules.

* * *

The vacation house

Around a table in the living area of the mansion sat a collection of girls with varying hair colors, all of the remaining members of Rias Peerage and Naruto's little sister were studying large amounts of books and documents. Standing quietly observing the group from a corner of the room was another Naruto, his eyes showing silent curiosity at what they were doing.

Akeno was studying the theory behind union spells and delay spells, she already had many of her own unique and powerful spells so she wanted to find some sort of edge; one that didn't involve diving into _That_.

After baring witness to the amount of destruction, no, pure Annihilation; that Rias and Naruto's combined powers caused the black haired devil wanted to dig more in-depth into ways that could match up to their might. One idea she'd had was a delay spell that could be triggered to combine with a spell she was casting, increasing its output. While her face didn't show it, Akeno's mind was almost frantic for ways to increase her abilities in as short an amount of time as possible.

Though she didn't want to say it, the fight with the fallen angels to save Asia had shaken her. While they had won, it was only because Naruto had managed to somehow make it in front of the attack that would have killed them all. They may not be so lucky next time. There was also the fact that Naruto had been injured badly, his body had healed at an incredible rate without doubt, but something had happened to his evil pieces. Akeno knew he was hiding it, she also knew that Rias had felt it too but was either scared to admit it or didn't know if it was just her imagination. Either way they will all have to confront the fact sooner or later. She only hoped that it wouldn't affect his performance in the rating game.

Asia and Hikari, both beginners in the aspects of magic, were sitting next to each other poring over every beginner's guide they could get their hands on. While Asia had more experience using mana, and therefore a larger reserve and better understanding on using it then her purple haired friend, all of her experience came from use of her Scared Gear. As the gear twilight healing, was an extremely power and useful gear, it was lacking in diversity, all it did was take ones mana and greatly speed up the healing of an injured body. This made it a great support Gear, however Naruto was right when he pointed out it only covered one aspect of support. As such Asia had taken to his suggestion with a passion, trying to learn and memorizes everything she could about creating and maintaining barriers.

Hikari on the other hand had taken to learning everything she could about fire magic, having taken to trying to follow in Naruto's footsteps, and becoming a swirling whirlpool of flames as well. At least that was her intent; she didn't know that Naruto was better with wind element in his old life or that his flames were not a result of fire magic. Her studies would not be a waste however, as while she couldn't take part in the rating game itself; she could help Asia to work on her barriers without them being over powered at first.

The last person at the table was Rias herself; the girl's hair was slightly frazzled, as she was holding her head with her hands on either side, fingers covered by her crimson locks. The Gremory heir was wearing a set of red framed reading glasses as she pored over all the files of Risers Rating games, trying her hardest to come up with some sort of plan. Her mind was running in many different directions with how things have been going as of late. While Akeno had been half right in that she did know something odd had happened to Naruto's evil pieces, she wasn't scared to ask nor was she ignoring the issue she was simply waiting on Naruto again. If he didn't say anything by week's end she would confront him about it. She didn't want to push, but she was also very worried about the draconic boy, he always tried to hold everything up himself, never asking or even thinking of asking for help.

"Well, aren't you all busy this morning." Naruto said with a smirk, enjoying the squawks of surprises from the four females. The clone had to quickly bent backwards as Akeno released a short spark of electricity at him in her surprise. "A bit jumpy are we?"

"Oh my, no. You are just being a bad boy and I thought you needed to be 'punished'." Akeno said back, having managed to bury her surprise quickly. She made note to stop letting her senses slip while reading again, she was far better sensor then the others so for her to let him get this close she was off her game.

The clone raised an eyebrow at the black haired girl while he rose to his feet again. "Somehow I doubt that would be about me being punished, and more about you spoiling yourself."

Akeno's eyes gained a mischievous gleam as she rose and started to seductively make her way across the room. "Ara ara Ghosty-kun, I promise I'll be **spoiling** you." The ponytailed queen whispered with a purr of desire.

"Akeno?!" Rias growled lowly. Looking back the standing pair saw Rias was developing a corona of red energy around her, her fingers digging hard into the armrests of the chair she was sitting in; her face as red as her hair. Across the table an equally red faced Asia was stuttering and gibbering something about 'pretty' and 'love', poor Hikari looked just as lost as Naruto, while Akeno was giggling madly.

"Sorry, Buchou didn't mean to make you jealous." Although Akeno said this aloud, everyone could tell that had been EXACTLY what she intended to do.

Sighing at her Queen teasing her again, Rias turned her focus on the still confused boy. "Naru-kun what are you doing here, I thought you were training with Koneko-chan on hand to hand combat?"

"I am." The boy said only to get looks of disbelief and confusion. "Well the boss is anyway. I'm here to see how everyone else is doing; and see if there's anything we can do for ya?"

"Oh right, those Shadow clones of yours." Rias said in understanding, still not use to the boy being in two or more places at once. "Well actually you could help me with my strategy. I'm not really having much luck thinking up the best way to deal with Riser."

"Err that might not be the best idea. Despite Az's best efforts otherwise, I'm really bad at strategy." Naruto admitted to the shock of the others present.

"But you beat Sona and made it look easy!" Akeno exclaimed.

"That's because I attacked her when she was in a weakened state and over confident." Naruto countered, only to see looks of confusion for the others. "Okay look, Uncle Az used to play chess with me a fair bit when he came to visit, always said it was to teach me to plan ahead. I never really got it, well the practice at least, I understand the concept. Anyway, Sona plays a lot like Uncle does, she's always planning both her moves and what she expects me to do. This works great when you're playing others that like to think strategically, not so well when you're facing someone that goes out of their way to mess with your plans, I can normally force a stalemate out of most players, even most REALLY good players, which I was expecting with her. However she was distracted, upset, and was still expecting me to play like her that put her at a major disadvantage; one that I used as fast as I could. So through her poor mindset, my luck and some damn good acting I made her learn her lesson." Naruto explained off the chess game. "Chaos theory at its best I'd say."

"And here I thought you just made your strategy look like random moves." Rias said, slightly disappointed that she couldn't get Naruto's help.

"Meh, I'm a 'focus on the end game' type. Only advice I can give you is when you're failing, cheat. That don't work Blow it to hell and back." Naruto said, trying to nod sagely even as everyone broke out into laugher.

Once she caught her breath again Rias looked at him with a bit of a smile, glad he came by this morning, as it took away a bit of the stress of worrying over her match just by listening to him. "You know, we've been making more assumptions about you then we realized. Like the chess game, we just assumed you were going to win in an oddly chaotic skill, when it was more a lucky draw."

"Well, I knew I wouldn't LOSE, winning as I did was a lucky break because to wasn't at her best." Naruto said trying to defend his win. "Besides she was going to lose at some point because she was so used to winning the way she did she was forgetting to take everyone's personality into account in their games. It isn't always exactly what they seem."

"How so?" Hikari asked, very interesting in how her brother's mind worked.

"For example, my confrontation with her the first night, I came off as brash and over confident. Not saying I'm not brash most of the time, just that I'm never one to underestimate someone. So Sona, took that into thinking I was such a straightforward person I'd treat chess like that, or that even my conduct with her was only skin deep."

"What was the deeper meaning Nii-san?"

"To stand up in the face of fear." Naruto said as he looked around. "I'm not expecting everyone to just run forward into a fight guns blazing, if everyone did we'd all die pretty quick. Rather I expect those that I respect to face forward and stand tall even when afraid. Like you Red, I get pissed off, spiting fire and all that, and I KNOW you're scared when I'm like that; but you don't cower away, you still stand by your beliefs, Sona buckled. She's starting to show her getting her feet back though so that's good."

"Oh my, I didn't think Ghosty-kun put so much thought into that." Akeno said with a giggle. Naruto just stuck his tongue out at her once again getting everyone to giggle after a heavy atmosphere.

"Anyways, my point is I don't do strategy, more just screw with people's heads." Naruto finalized his explanation. "And the best way I can explain that is, without playing into their hand do the last thing anyone would expect you to."

"I see, well, can we at least look over this so you can give me insight while I do the planning?" Rias asked, hoping to spend time with him, even if she knew it was a clone.

"Don't see how that would help but sure."

"It will just show opening for attack." Rias said with a smile "Ones that most people wouldn't think of."

* * *

If it wouldn't have taken away from his ever stock image Arthur would have sighed aloud by now. His team leader, Vali Lucifer, had led them into this town under the assumption that the devils here would be on guard and after them the moment they arrived. He'd been wrong, not only were their far less devil in the area than they had been told, those who where here had barely paid any attention to them. A couple of them had been running around town on bikes, but that looked more of a case of them trying to do their 'devil jobs' as he repeatedly heard the brown haired one complaining about.

The strongest holy sword wielder was currently seated in a Café that was on one of the main streets from Kuoh academy. The café; which boasted having a large selection coffees and high quality teas, had oddly been named 'Storm Front'. According to what the boy had gathered the name was in dedication to a local hero or legend; which one it was still kind of unclear.

Apparently, there is a protector that patrolled the city at night, which kept the crime down and protected innocent people. There were a lot of people that whisper of him or her but nobody could confirm who it was.

The only witnesses only spoke of a black shadow, or a flash of golden yellow; not much to work with for the police, or him. The main reason he'd come to was it was the only café that was dedicated to the story, but wasn't just named the shadow something. After having set up a base to operating from Arthur's teammates had all split up to look for their target; all came back empty handed other than his sister Le Fay. When she heard the rumor she had asked around about it and reported it back to him and Vali. He'd thought of dismissing it as simple hearsay, but Le Fay insisted they at least look into it. Once they had Vali begin to believe it was their target or was at least had some relation to him.

Which led to why the young British blonde was currently in this café, trying to discover any form of information that he could get from listening in, while enjoying the admittedly good tea. "Heya Blondie. How's it going?" Came a playful voice, drawing Arthur from his musing. Across the table stood the dark haired form of Bikou, his grin clearly showing he found something amusing.

"What do you want Bikou?" Arthur asked in a flat tone, while not really disliking the Youkai he did find the other mans constant blood lust fairly tiring to deal with.

Bikou laughed while he pulled out the chair in front of Arthur and sat down. "Now is that any way to talk to a friend?"

"It is the way I speak with you." Arthur said simply while taking a sip of his tea, almost completely ignoring the man across for him.

"So cold," Bikou said with a laugh. "Anyway, what have ya got so far?" He asked as he waved for a waitress.

"Nothing." Arthur said with a sigh as he laid his cup on the table before him. "These people are going to surprising lengths to avoid saying anything about him. If I didn't know that we are investigating a real person I would have already brushed their conversion off as pure myth." The descendent of King Arthur explained. His eyes had narrowed in thought, not even his true ancestor had become this much of a myth to average people. "I'm beginning to believe someone is making an effort to suppress the truth behind our target."

Bikou blinked and lost his grin for a second when he heard this. Narrowing his eyes in thought, he made an order to the waitress, before turning back to the blonde swordsmen across from him. "What do you mean?"

Arthur crossed his arms across his chest while he stared down at the tea cup in front of him, his face reflecting how deeply he was thinking before he voiced any thoughts on what he was about to say. "The way everyone in this town talks about this vigilante, yet no one speaks a name, nor what he looks like beyond this 'black shadow' or 'golden flash' denotes that he is known but feared or revered. Yet no one makes an effort to find him; which while normal for a whole seems to go against the human nature. Humans; on a whole, seek confirmation on things. The existence of God, Devils, Youkai, even their own existence; we as a people always try to verify things. While some can take things at face value, or at least believe something 'in the moment' if we have time to think on something we desire proof that it happened or is real." Bikou nodded. He'd seen enough people that didn't believe in the supernatural simply because they didn't have 'proof'. What Arthur was saying made sense. "These people however simply either except the boy is real and don't question it, or don't believe he is real and don't question it." Arthur said.

Bikou narrowed his eyes. "You think it's a spell then? Why not simply erase the memory of himself?"

Arthur seemed too frowned deeply while he tried to think of an answer. "I'm not entirely sure; I'd likely have to ask Le Fay for that. She is the one that normally handles this sort of thing, it does seem like it is more trouble than it's worth if he didn't want to be found."

"Could he want the attention?"

"Then why go through the trouble not to be known? No one seems to know what he looks like beyond 'black and gold'" Arthur countered, sounding like he was questioning himself as much as his companion.

Bikou groaned as he rubbed his face. "This guy seems to go against everything Vali described him to be."

Arthur sighed as he lifted his tea again. "Agreed. If 'She' hadn't said so herself, I'd question if we were really searching for a dragon." He stopped talking as the waitress returned with Bikou's order. Once she had made sure they had everything they wanted she slowly wondered off again allowing the young men to return to their conversion. "Has anyone else found anything?"

Bikou shook his head slowly looking into his cup, as if expecting it to have some form of answer for him. "Not really. Cat lady can't even find any form of energy that could count for what we are looking for, she said there are weird chakra signatures in random places around town, but they don't leave a trail, which she said should be impossible." Bikou started to chuckle lightly as he remembered how aggravated this Nekomata would get while she was talking about it. "Vali got called back by Azazel, something about needing him to be ready for some rogues that are getting out of hand. So it's just you and your cute little sister."

Arthur gave the Monkey Youkai a cold glare at the man's comment about his sister. "Le Fay hasn't reported back yet, she said she'd be by tonight to tell me if she has found anything worth looking into. We can hope she has something as she was the one that found this lead." Seeing that Bikou had yet to lose his smirk, Arthur kept his eyes locked with the other man. "If you touch her in any way you will be breathing from the other side of you head by day break."

Bikou's grin remained, as this was a normal argument; and as such long since lost any fear of the man. As much as Le Fay was a cute girl she was far too hyper and kind for the battle maniac, he did however love to push the older brother's buttons whenever he could. "And if she touches me?"

"Your fate will remain the same." Bikou's laughter caused quite a few odd looks from the others in the café.

* * *

Kyoto Youkai head quarters.

Golden eyes stared intently at the kneeling form of a gray haired man with wolf eyes from their seat. The eyes belonged to the resident leader of the Youkai faction, Yasaka No Kyuubi. The young looking blonde haired fox woman was dressed in shrine maiden attire, consisting of a folded white shirt with large flowing white sleeves, and ankle length red skirt; a open slit at the back allowing for her long golden blonde fox tails to fan out behind her. "Please report." The women said in a polite yet authority filled voice.

"Hai Yasaka-sama. I was able to find out that Ophis has sent her top team into the Devil controlled area of Kouh, in search for a new and powerful recruit. Whoever it is, she wants him badly, while I wasn't able to get much detail she gave the order that they are not to return until he is found." The wolf man said, not lifting his head.

Yasaka eyes widened as she heard this, from the many spies she'd managed to get into the Khaos Brigade she knew that Ophis's top team was likely stronger than even her. She hadn't been able to get the exact measure of their strength but if they were being sent out for one target he would have to be very strong indeed. "I see. Anything on the target?"

"No Yasaka-sama. The only thing we could find out was that the target was to be 'Found' not taken." That caused more worry to appear in the fox women's eyes.

' _A team that can take out Ultimate Class being was only sent to FIND a new recruit?_ ' Yasaka thought while she looked over the paper version of the report her wolf spy was currently giving. Her eyes looked back at the still kneeling man when she noticed he was slightly shifting giving quick glances at her and around the room. "Is there something else?"

"No Madam… Nothing is proven at least." The man said quietly.

"Go on."

"Well, it isn't confirmed however there have been rumors floating around that they were sent to find another dragon Madam." The gray haired wolf said.

Yasaka's eyes shot wide open. "Another dragon user?"

"No Yasaka-sama, a new dragon." The man corrected, his eyes seemed conflicted about if he should continue talking. Seeing his leader was quietly waiting for him to explain he took a deep breath before he continued talking. "All dragon based Scared Gears have been located and accounted for. The last two, the absorption line of Vritra had been located in the Heir Sitri's Peerage, while the Red Dragon Emperor's Boosted Gear is being recruited by the Hero Faction from North America. While Vritra's last gear is in Kouh he is confirmed to not be the target."

Yasaka lightly bit her index finger as she worked over everything she'd just been told; while the idea of another dragon being out there somewhere was somewhat disconcerting if it was in fact a truly new dragon, it should still be fairly weak. However if it was weak then Ophis should not have taken notice of it, but if it was a strong dragon then why had it only been noticed now. "This is very disturbing. Continue to investigate it as you can, I will send some people into Kouh to investigate as well. What other news to do have?"

The gray wolf nodded and continued his report. "We have confirmed the Fallen Angel General Kokabiel has indeed gone rogue and is gathering forces to restart the Great War. He has made fledgling deals with the Old Satan Supporters in the devils among the Khaos Brigade, as well as pulling most Fallen that were there to his side. No plans have been stated yet that we are aware of, however, he made no move to make contact with our group."

Yasaka nodded grimly "I don't imagine he will; Kokabiel always looked down on every other race. He likely only spoke to the Devils because they will make setting off the war easier."

The spy nodded as well, being sure to remember to inform the others of Yasaka's words. "Lastly we have finally been able to ascertain the leader of rogue hero faction." Yasaka's head snapped up, as this was something they'd been trying to find out for a while now. "Cao Cao"

* * *

Rias sighed in content relief as she let her tired body sink into the large bathtub; sitting next to her was Akeno, while Koneko was laid out at the end of the tub. It had been a full 7 days since she'd seen her Rook, and the white haired girl looked like she was almost asleep already just by finally being able to relax. "How's your training coming Koneko-chan?"

"Tiring." The girl barely muttered out, her arm lightly twitching simply from being moved.

"Ufufu is Ghosty-kun wearing you out Koneko-chan? Maybe I should help you 'deal' with him?" Akeno said teasingly, licking her lips a bit. The black hair girl kept giggling when she saw Rias' glare from the corner of her eye, however her face morph into slight surprise when all she got from her target was a soft groan and a waved hand. "Oh my, are you okay Koneko-chan." This time worry was very evident in the Queen's voice.

"Tired." The girl muttered.

"Koneko…" Rias started to asked but was cut off when the other girl groaned loudly an sat up to look at them.

"Wake up at 5, Spar till 7, we eat then work through kata's till 9. 9-12 we spar again, focusing on speed. We eat then work on kata's again till 2. 2-5 we work on new moves. 5-7 we eat and relax, often having Asia-sempai heal me. 8-10 we meditate to connect with our energies; or spar. Then I sleep. He trains more." Koneko laid out her day for the last week in a flat exhausted tone, the girl's eyes never coming more than half way open. Rias and Akeno's jaws looked like they had dislocated from pure shock but Koneko wasn't finished. "Naruto-sempai also trains with Kida-sempai, does personal training, cooks our meals; helps with Buchou's planning and helps Hikari-chan with starting martial arts."

"Errr." The two older girls couldn't even figure out where to start. They had thought that they were working hard with how much they had gone over, and the amount of practice they'd done. Even with his clones running around Naruto didn't seem to stop with how much they'd just heard.

"I am tired." Koneko finally stated blandly before she laid back down in the hot water trying to relax her tired muscles. As much as she cared for the boy she was really starting to regret asking for him to not hold back on her training; as she hadn't even told the two that she had already moved up to level 10 in her gravity seal, her muscle had been torn and healed by Asia so much she wasn't even sure when she'd stopped feeling the pain from it.

She did know that when Naruto had explained to her what she was doing, her drawing in his extra chakra, she'd started to panic, badly. The process was VERY similar to Senjutsu, similar enough that the Nekoshou didn't even know she was doing instinctively while she was fighting against the blonde dragon. It had taken the boy an entire day after she first used it for him to calm her down enough to continue their training. Since it wasn't true senjutsu she wasn't taking in the worlds hate, rather she was only taking in Naruto's Chakra while he used his flames to eat away any extra if she took in more than she could control.

While the boost she was given from this was a great deal lower then true Senjutsu, it did increase her strength and stamina by a great deal. She hadn't been able to recreate the kick attack Naruto said she had done while in the berserk state she believed she was getting close. Another bonus in her mind was with taking in Naruto's chakra she felt she was closer to him, she could also feel his emotional state without having to be touching him. It wasn't until she had arrived back at the house that she realized it wasn't just HIS emotions she could feel while having his Chakra in her.

She had, and still could, feel everyone in the house's emotions as clear as day; it almost got to the point it over whelmed her emotions. Rias' and Hikari's excitement when they saw Naruto walking in with her almost made the cat girl want to jump on the boy like his sister had; the pure happiness that Asia often exuded seemed to be greater now that she wasn't having to heal them. Akeno's mischievous joy when she was speaking with the boy or Rias jealousy when he seem to pay more attention to others rather than the red head which was followed very closely by confusion. Koneko felt it all rushing through her, her only safe zone seem to be near Naruto himself. His aura seem to deaden everything to a certain degree, something she was sure was from this flames.

While most of the feeling coming from the group could just have easily been seen from their actions, it was the underling emotions that truly got Koneko thinking. While normally she could only feel a person's emotions while in contact with them; therefore more often the emotions she felt was focused on her, now that she could feel them from a distance she was noticing things from a slightly different outlook.

Thinking back on the interaction she was surprised just how apparent it should have been; Hikari's slightly obsessive desire to please Naruto, the bubbling excitement and joy the Lamia felt when he said he was proud of her was the same as when she remembered her behavior towards her sister. The girl had truly taken Naruto as her family, her whole world really, although the love for him was purely of family, as she felt a small spike of lust from the purple haired girl when Kiba had walked into the room.

The blushing and bubbling from Asia was another thing that was pretty clear to all, the girl was crushing on her savior badly, but as time moved on the reaction was different. Koneko had thought that the girl was getting over her crush, but what she felt today clearly denied that idea; the love for the blonde was almost the same level as Hikari's but it was clearly of a different kind then what the young snake girl felt for him. Then again the only person likely to be surprised by the Nun's feelings was Naruto himself.

The two sets of feelings that made the white haired girl really think were from her current bath mates though. Akeno's self-loathing wasn't a real surprise for the girl; however it had decreased from when she first joined the peerage with was nice, but her bubbling desire when she was near Naruto as well as the real feelings of happiness when joking with the blonde was surprising. For all her smiles and jokes Koneko knew very well that the black haired girl was often masking how she really felt, something that most of this group had done often. That the boy who felt less than any of them could lighten the emotional burdens of the others was truly amazing feat.

Rias feeling for Naruto were slightly less unexpected, when one really thought about it. She was feeling a great deal of attraction towards him, as well as much confusion, frustration and happiness. These emotions where often displayed when she dealt with him in their talks, however the part that surprised Koneko was that depth of the feelings for the draconic blonde. Likely the two major things stopping Rias from really expressing anything for him was the engagement and the massive amounts of confusion the girl felt.

Koneko blew out a breath as she finally let her thoughts go and gave into the soothing warm waters of her bath. With all of Naruto's chakra now out of her system her empathy was mostly returned to normal. Peeking one eye towards the subjects of her thoughts she couldn't help the desire to sigh; both older girls looked both embarrassed and worried. Rias more so then Akeno, however one could still see that the black haired girl was still feeling slightly embarrassed by the considerable difference in the amount of training they were doing. "Different types; different way." Koneko offered up lightly, surprising the two.

"Pardon?" Rias asked, confused by the comment.

"Different types of fighting, different ways of training." Koneko said, hoping to not have to expand on it while still easing their thoughts. She sighed when she saw they still didn't understand what she meant; she was already starting to miss how she and Naruto could explain things to each other with only a few words. "Naruto-sempai, Yuto-sempai and I are physical fighters; we train our bodies to do our fighting. You are all Magic fighters, you train your minds and spirits to fight. We need to be able to fight without thought; you need to be able to think to fight. Different types of fighting need different types of training. Pushing our selves gets the best results from us; you pushing yourselves causes' you to lose any results you had."

The two girls smiled happily as they finally understood what the younger girl meant and started to relax more, even if they did vow to try harder in their minds. Rias tilted her head slightly with a small smile while she thought of something she wanted to ask her Rook about "HEY PREP! I THINK I'VE FIGURED OUT HOW TO BREATH FIRE, COME HERE I WANT TO TRY IT!" Rias mouth snapped shut and all three girls turned their heads to the door with wide eyes.

"OH HELL NO! STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU SCALEY ASS BASTARD!"

"NO HURTING YUTO-KUN NII-SAN!"

The three girls looked at each other for a moment before they all couldn't handle it anymore and burst out laughing. "Hehe, I missed these moments." Rias said after finally getting her giggles under control again.

"This is what we are fighting for Buchou." Akeno said with a small smile on her face as well. Koneko didn't say anything but both other girls clearly saw the slight grin on the other girls' lips.

* * *

Naruto snickered to himself as he watched Yuto back away from him, he really hadn't even started to try and breath fire, like he joked, he just really wanted to make the boy move out of the chair he was sitting in. There really wasn't even a reason he wanted to, he just felt the urge to see the boy scramble ' _Totally worth it too._ ' Hikari was coming up behind him and likely either going to try and berate him or see the smirk and catch him, meaning he was going to have to end it soon. Sucking in as much air as he could, swelling his chest massively, Naruto watch as his princely friend ducked his head. Faintly hearing Hikari's yell to stop Naruto opened his mouth and burst out laughing. "Got'ch." He said before turning his back and walking back towards the living room.

"Wha?" Yuto said as he looked up from his curled up place on the floor. Seeing the other blonde started to leave the Knight started to put everything that just happened together. It only took the bishounen boy a few seconds to realize he'd just gotten another prank pulled on him, causing him to groan aloud and pick himself back up. "Damn Ghost! When are you going to stop doing that?!" Yuto demanded as he fell in step behind the blonde Rook.

Naruto shrugged while smirking over his shoulder at the other boy. "Don't know, maybe when the calls stop coming in."

Yuto face-palmed at the reply, knowing he was still being punished for his 'impress my big brother' stunt. "You're not going to let that go are you?"

"You should have known better then to listen to Uncle Az." Naruto shot back, getting another groan in reply. Shaking his head with a light chuckle the whiskered blonde lead the two back around the corner Hikari was coming up on, his arms instinctively shooting up to catch the legged Lamia when she stumbled in her run and almost crashed into another wall. "You really shouldn't run Habi-imouto."

"Mooo, I'll get used to these legs at some point." The purple haired girl whined as Naruto helped steady her.

"Who said anything about the legs, you run into things even with a tail." Naruto bluntly pointed out. Hikari huffed indigently before turning her head away from the pair, ignoring her brother while trying to hide her blush from the other blonde behind him. Yuto's soft chuckles weren't helping her much though. Shaking his head and smiling Naruto started to lead all of them back towards the living room. "So getting back to what you were saying about your magic studies?"

Hikari's eyes shot back open with excitement again. "Oh right, so Akeno-nee showed me how to make the fire ball spell more open ended so I can control it and make it bigger. She says most of the spells I'm going to learn work the same way but some like the 'Fire Wall' spell are limited in some ways, like it has to always be connected to the ground or can't be moved once it's made." The girl bubbled out happily skipping her steps back through the house.

Naruto and Yuto nodded along while she started going over how she was doing and how she was going to be the greatest fire mage ever, even better then Naruto himself. "She does know you don't use fire magic right?" Yuto asked in a whisper.

"I tried to explain it a few times, I think she just wants to try and copy me. I figure she'll figure it out later, and by then she'll have a different goal… Hopefully." Naruto answered just as quietly. He developed a sweatdrop near the end of his sentence when he noticed that Hikari hadn't stopped talking even though she was going red in the face. Yuto snickered all the same, the two were surprisingly alike in some manners and yet almost complete opposites in others. "Hey Hebi-imouto shouldn't you and Goldie be getting ready for your bath?" Naruto said loud enough to cut into the girls ramblings.

"Oh Right! ASIA-CHAN!" The transformed Lamia yelled before running off. Naruto raised his hand to call for her not to run but before he got anything out the blonde pair heard a crash and 'oww'. The whiskered boy could only drop his head and hand in defeat, while the other started to chuckle lightly, knowing that the girl would be fine.

"Well, at least she energetic." Yuto said while he patted his friend on his shoulder.

"She's an energized wrecking ball." Naruto replied lamely, wincing when he heard twin crashes from both his sister and the blonde nun she had gone to find. "How can anyone be that clumsy, let alone two people?"

Yuto snorted a bit after recovering from his own wince. "Got me, but I'm guessing it's a trade off for how cute the pair can be."

The male Rook just shook his head as he straightened himself and starting slowly walking again, the Knight falling in step slightly behind him. "So how's your new technique coming?"

"Surprisingly good, after getting the hang of controlling the Aura itself; using it is pretty much more a matter of just focus rather than exertion." Yuto said while he formed an orb of bluish-purple light to float above his right hand to show the other boy. "Admittedly it is still fairly draining in comparison to when I only used my mana to make swords, but the speed and power boost it offers is nothing to dismiss."

"I imagine it would be fairly difficult to hold that for long, the strain will lessen as your reserves grow." Naruto commented before nodding. "And your ideas for ranged attacks?"

Yuto seemed to narrow his eyes while he remembered his practice in making new moves. "Well, that's been a little more difficult. While I'm not having much trouble with making elemental weapons throw off waves for their elements, I can't seem to get the non-element ones to do the same."

"Err, that was a bad explanation at the end Prep, it sounded like you're trying to make your swords throw out waves of metal or something." Naruto's eyebrow was raised in confusion at what his friend was trying.

Yuto stopped at what Naruto said and starting chuckling at the thought. "That would be pretty funny to see wouldn't it?" Imagining swinging his sword and having metal I-beams coming flying out of it. Shaking his head the swordsmen tried to better explain what he was trying to do. "What I mean is I can't get my basic swords, or eater blades like the holy eraser to send off wave like attacks of any sort."

By the time Yuto had finished explaining what he meant the two had made it into the living area of the mansion. Thinking on what the bishounen boy had said Naruto started questioning him to see if he may be able to understand what was wrong. "How exactly are you going about making the waves?"

Yuto sat down in his original spot that Naruto had chased him out of before; something that the other blonde had done as well before answered his training partner. "Not much to explain really, I channel my magic into the blade, increasing its attack power, while I swing I release it allowing the swing to throw the attack."

Naruto blinked "You're just releasing it aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

"Then that's your problem." Naruto said with a grin. Yuto looked at the other boy with a confused frown marring his face, seeing the look Naruto's grin increased. "When you are channeling the magic into elemental blades the mana is remade into the element, as you stop building up power you throw the power with your swing. The problem you're having with you normal swords is that the Mana isn't changed into anything so it stays in the sword before slowly dispelling. If you want to throw wave attack with those YOU need to make the wave with the mana, try having it circle around the sword instead of in it." Yuto looked gob-smacked when he listened to Naruto explain; very simply, the mistake he'd been making for the last three days.

"I feel like an Idiot." Yuto groaned out as he palmed his face in both his hands. Naruto only chuckled. "And now that you've explained that I know why my Eater Blades don't work either, with how they suck in the desired element they can't throw their attacks because they'd have nothing to pull the element back too."

"True, though you could likely make the blades longer and shorter depending on your will with a bit of work." Both boys fell into silence after that, Yuto because he was thinking of how he could try what Naruto had suggested about the sword length and Naruto because he was just comfortable and was starting to fall asleep sitting up.

* * *

The next morning left Naruto both confused and utterly lost. While he had been getting up fairly early for the last week it didn't mean that he had been having a much better time waking up, he still rarely had all his senses when he woke up. Looking to his right he was disoriented by the blob of bright red laying on his arm that should have been white, thinking he had the wrong side he looked to the left and saw a mass of black weighting that arm down. Groaning in confusion and his lacking mental abilities in the morning the boy tried to figure out where he was, as he remembered being in the living room talking with Yuto then being here.

Lifting his head a bit the blonde boy saw that he was in one of the Mansion bedrooms, at least he was fairly sure that's where he was because he was in a large crimson covered bed much like the covers Rias put on most of her beds. The room's decorations were sparse; mostly being clothing that was thrown about from the girls sleeping here. He'd also located the missing white blob; she was sleeping on his stomach between the other two girls.

Releasing a soft sigh the boy scanned the room again before his eyes laid upon what he needed, his body pillow was brought into the room with them. He'd have to thank Koneko for that, as she was the most likely person to have gotten it. The girl liked sleeping more than him and likely didn't want him waking her up when he got up. Closing his eyes he focused on the pillow before switching himself with it and escaping the bed.

It surprisingly only took him 25 minutes of aimless staggering around to find the kitchen, by which time he had his head cleared enough that he knew how to make his morning coffee, and insured that he was indeed still wearing clothing. He really didn't want to have to deal with his sister yelling at him for not being clothed again, he did not need a headache added to his already sleep fogged mind. 20 minutes later the blonde was seating himself at the table with a large plate of scrambled eggs and toast and his second coffee of the morning. On the floor next to his seat was an equally large bowl of eggs buttered bread for the boy's familiar, which Tabar was digging into quickly.

"Any idea what we should do today?" Naruto asked the wolf next to him in a lazy half asleep voice. Hearing the canine give an almost questioning sound the boy swallowed the food he'd been chewing and answered "Well, everyone has the day off to rest before going back to work. I really don't feel like going out there only to be dragged back by Kitten or someone, plus I got a bit of my control back for my flames so don't need to go overboard on that." Tabar looked up to his master for a moment and tilted his head. "Yes I know; a bit is not what I had before but at least it's not hurting to use them anymore."

Tabar gave him a snort before returning to his breakfast, a sound that Naruto returned while he did the same. Tabar finished his food first and calmly trotted off to the corner of the room to wait for his master, something Naruto wasn't going to make the animal do for long. The blonde had just finished cleaning up his dishes when a sleepy red head entered the room. " Mornin' Naru." Rias said around a large yawn.

"Morning Red. What are you doing today?" Naruto asked as he leaned against the wall, out of the way as the girl rummaged around the kitchen looking for something to eat. As he drank last bit of his coffee still in his cup as the boy's mind was started to work better as caffeine awakening his slumbering neurons.

"Nothin' don't wanna do nothin' today." The girl murmured lowly, still very tired from the night. Although it had been one of best night's sleep she had had in weeks, that didn't mean she had wanted to wake up.

Giving a soft snort as he drained the last of his coffee, Naruto pushed himself off the wall and headed for the last place he left his clothing bag. "Right, I'll be back after I take a real shower. You should be awake by then and I'll ask again." Rias just muttered a soft good bye while she found the cereal.

As he showered Naruto started to review his own training so far. His fight with Tabar had caused more than a couple of his memories to come back to him, though they were still very dis-conjointed and immensely scattered. Remembered images of talking to the tailed beasts as well as the main attack for all of them; he also remembered his first encounter with Jiraiya, the original author of the books he was republishing. However the new memory that had the most effect on him was of learning his main attack: the Rasengan.

Relearning the attack was much quicker than it was originally, he had already gotten to the third and final step. It felt very odd because of his new beast type chakra, the Rasengan was now completely red in color. The biggest problem he was having right now was if he introduced any other energies to the Rasengan it became increasingly unstable; he'd already had it blow up in his hand several dozen times by trying to add magic and trying to add his flames so far just consumed the sphere.

Blowing out his breath, Naruto turned his head to the ceiling, allowing the hot water to cascade across his body. The blonde contemplated how is life came to this point. Although he would never trade it, only a few months ago he would never have expected himself to own his own home while living with several women on top of that having any sister or the best friend that could pretty much be classified as his brother. One of the unexpected bonus benefits of having coming contact with these people was now his emotions were actually starting to come to the surface, this was something he is still having trouble identifying but at least he now knew what they were. He often caught himself reminiscing about time before they came and how empty he really felt back then even if he was becoming a void Dragon he still felt more now than he had in his entire new life.

A playful smirk crossed his face as he thought about how much she now knew about is supposedly uncle Azazel. Of all the many things he is expected from that man he never thought he would be the leader of anything; let alone the entire fallen Angel race. The man was a hilarious pervert, a loyal friend, and an obsessive fisherman. He could never imagine his life without the man he had come to see as the first member of his new family.

Getting out of the shower and grabbing a nearby towel, Naruto once more started to think about what he could do today in order to waylay the boredom that could set it. They didn't have his gaming consol here, not that he was much good at it, nor did he want to go back to studying with his day off. That pretty much put an end to most of the things he'd been doing for the last couple of months; Training, learning magic, studying alchemy, studying for school, taking care of the house work, taking care of Hikari, cooking meals, doing requests. ' _I really haven't had much of a life have I?_ ' The blonde thought as he realized how little he'd been getting out.

Trying to think about what he used to do before all this started his eyes fell onto his cell phone, placed on the edge of the sink, and he remembered his old ring tone. "Anime!" Naruto suddenly said aloud. "I was in the middle of One Piece, I can get back to that." a grin spread across his face as he finished toweling off and started getting dressed. "Wonder if anyone wants to watch with me?"

Pulling on a shirt and wrapping the towel around his neck; to catch the last drops of water to fall from his hair, Naruto left the bathroom and made his way back down into the kitchen. Upon entering the room the boy almost wanted to snicker at the scene in front of him, most of the people in the mansion had made their way down to the kitchen, only Koneko and Hikari still remained in bed, but everyone down stairs looked like he imagined himself in the morning.

Akeno had yet to put her hair up in her normal ponytail, allowing it to fall freely around her body; giving her a look like she had a black vial covering her from head to toe. Her eyes, only half open, had a slightly glazed completely unfocused look to them. Although she was no longer naked as she had been in bed, her apparent idea of getting dressed on her day off consisted of wearing another of his shirts, over sized on her, and he assumed she wore underwear, but couldn't be sure.

Rias was sitting across from her black haired Queen at the kitchen table, hunched over a steaming cup of tea. The girl didn't look any more awake than when he'd left her to find breakfast for herself, as her hair was sticking up everywhere and her eyes were mostly closed from what he could see. She was at least wearing a tracksuit though it was in complete disarray, and she didn't look like she'd be staying up much longer if given a choose. Even the normally peppy Asia was groggily working her way through making everyone's breakfast, though she was fully dressed.

The only one that looked to be in presentable condition other then Naruto, was Yuto. Although the young swordsmen had slight darken marks under his eyes from exhaustion the boy still looked like his normal princely self. "And the pretty boy effect holds true even after seven days of workout hell, you still look like you're ready for a date Prep." Naruto said announcing himself to the room. As everyone looked up at him Naruto grinned "I know I told Uncle Az you woke up like that but I didn't think you honestly woke up looking like that." Naruto started chuckling as he made his way to the table to sit down.

"Too early, shut up" Yuto muttered out while he accepted at a cup of tea from Asia with a small "Thanks."

"Mah, I'm normally that way, you never let me get away with it." The other male countered with a grin.

"Nii-chan no baka." Came a sleepy response from behind the boy as the young Lamia slithered into the room.

"Morning to you too, Hebi-imouto." The Draconic boy let out a small chuckle as the girl dropped into a spot at the table and let her arms flop out in front of her, while her head fell to the table with a soft 'thud'. "So anyone has any plans for the day?"

"Asia and I have to go to town to pick up supplies" Akeno muttered out quietly while she started to pull her hair behind her head into the normal ponytail. The slightly older girl grinned tiredly towards the blonde Dragon, she, much like to Rais, had a much better night sleep the normal but was still tired from the long hours of training. Casting her eyes towards the blonde nun the black haired girl threw her a tired smile; as she was the one who is doing most of the learning but was being very attentive in her studies.

"I personally am going to go find a very good book and disappear for the day." Said Yuto.

"I really have nothing planned. Why is there something you wanted to do?" Asked the redhead girl at the table.

The blonde leaned back into his chair, lounging one arm behind him. "Yeah, I realized I hadn't been watching any of my anime. So I thought I'd sit down and run through some One Piece while I had some time off, was wondering if anybody wanted to watch with me?"

All signs of exhaustion vanished from the redhead across from him will her eyes seemed to glow with excitement. "Anime?!" Her bed head hair instantly turned into a perfect hairstyle, bags under her eyes vanished and are once frowning lips suddenly became a wide smile that almost cracked her face. "I'm totally up for that!" Everyone started chuckling at her obvious excitement.

Naruto grinned as he stood up "I'll run back to my place and get the videos, have you watched any of it before?"

"Yeah I'm a couple hundred episodes in, I think I'm at 210?" Rias said as she tried to remember what episode she'd watched last.

Naruto nodded with a small smile "So I'm only a couple episodes ahead of you. Okay, I'll be back in half an hour, anything else I should pick up while I'm there?"

"Ano, Naruto-san if he could wait a couple minutes could we go with you?" Asia asked shyly.

Naruto nodded as he started out of the room. "I'm gonna go ask Kitten if she needs anything from the house while you get ready."

Waking the white haired girl was actually easier said than done. Since she remembered today was a day to rest she pretty much buried herself into the blankets of the bed and refused to come out. Even with Naruto's insistent poking at her side; much like she enjoyed doing to him, she refused to come out of her cocoon of blankets. "Come on Kitten, I just need to know if you want anything." Naruto tried enticing her out, only to get a murmured reply that he couldn't understand.

After a few more minutes of trying Naruto got tired of it and pulled the blankets away from the girls face and leaned in to hear what she was trying to say these turned out to be little more than broken sentences of involving words like 'sleep, light bad, warm bed'. With a soft snort and smile, the blonde boy leaned in and kissed the girls hair before retreating from the room.

* * *

"No way!" Rias called with a laugh as she threw a handful of popcorn at the blonde across from her.

"I totally could!" Naruto shot back with a wide grin. The two were sitting on the couch in the living room with the anime playing on TV and had been at it for close to seven hours now. The second the blonde had returned from picking up his discs Rias the grabbed his hand and dragged him to the couch where she had popcorn and drinks set out for them ready to go. The girl was practically vibrating in place when he finally got the disc in and pressed play.

"All right show me the handgun." The two were currently arguing about if Naruto could copy Ace's attacks from the anime. Naruto had sighed and immediately thought of how he looked when he called up his fire tried to tell Rias that he should be able to replicate some of his attacks but the girl wasn't buying it.

"Fine! Let's go outside." Naruto declared as he stood up and hit pause on the disc player. Grabbing her hand this time he dragged her outside and into the field area behind the house. Stepping away from her he tried to mimic the character's stance "Let's see, he stood something like... This." The boy said as he fell into his stance while extending his index finger as if it was a handgun; while calling up his black fire from within him. It took a couple of minutes of focus but he finally was able to shoot off three small bullets of black fire. "Ha! How's that Red?"

The redhead leaned back a little, thoroughly impressed with what she'd seen. "Okay, you are right. This also gives me a minute nickname for you, Ace." Rias said with a large smile on her face.

"Err. Dammit, I'm not live this down am I?" Naruto asked with a little bit of nervousness in his stance. He wasn't even given a chance to get an answer when he saw his familiar coming out with a wolflike snicker.

"Nope." The redhead said with the chipper tone of voice while she turned back to the house with swaying her hips. "Now come on we have another three hours before dinner's ready and we can get through a couple more episodes that way." With that said Rias started to walk back towards the house with a skip in her step.

"Yeah, yeah laughing up furball." Naruto said to his familiar as he started to follow his redheaded friend. The wolf fell in step behind him, never losing his dog like grin or snicker; once again proving to the blonde but the Wolf was far more intelligent than he let on. "Oh shut up you're gonna be the death of me. Damn dog."

"Ace hurry up! There's anime watched!"

"I'm coming Red hold your horses" the blonde called back before trailing behind her towards the house. ' _Great now she's got a nickname for me. Me and my big mouth._ ' Naruto didn't see the excited content look that was on Rias face as she looked back at him briefly.

Neither of them saw the golden eyes of a white haired girl following them both with a look of contemplation.

* * *

ORC Club Room.

"Red, if you don't stop pacing you're going to wear a hole in the floor." Naruto said with an exasperated sigh. It was the day of the Rating game, and everyone had returned from their training ready to go. Hikari was currently staying with Az by Naruto's request, having called the man the day before to watch over her so that she wouldn't drive herself crazy with no one to talk with.

"I can't help it Ace, this is an important match, and our first one at that." Rias fired back, her whole body riddled with tension.

"And we are ready for it. We've all trained, studied, and prepared the best we could Buchou." Akeno said, jumping in to help calm her friend down. "We've done everything we can, so trust in us and stop worrying."

The redhead looked around seeing the looks of determination from most of her Peerage, sighed and started to let the tension leave her body as best she could. Once she relaxed enough not to be a ball of nervous energy she smiled at her friends in thanks, though she had to hold back a giggle at Naruto's relaxed stance while the boy clean his ear with his pinky in utter boredom. The blonde haired dragon was one of two people that weren't wearing their school uniforms; rather he was dressed in a loose black hooded sweater with scarlet red patches around his shoulders and a red swirl on the back, with matching black pants and boots."You look relaxed Ace, any secret to you confidences?"

"Eh?" The blonde asked back before looking around to see everyone but Koneko wanting to know the answer, in hopes of calming their own nerves. His eyes staying on Asia's nun outfit only for a second longer than the others as he wonder if that would really be good battle wear, than considering what everyone else was in he wasn't about to comment on it."Sure, If all else fails, we can always just do another combo attack of my flames and your destruction Red, only at full power. If he gets up we do it again and again until he stops getting up." Naruto said back lazily, having remembered the area sweeper attack the two had done on the last suppression order they had received.

Yuto started to sweat nervously looking between the two of them. "Remind me to get out of the area before you try that, Please?" Naruto looked at him and sent an evil grin at him. The sweat on Yuto's brow started growing in proportions before he sent a pleading look towards Rias. The innocent look on the redhead's face did nothing to help his nervousness; even though everybody else started to giggle at his expense.

Before anything else could be said a silver magic circle appeared in the middle of the room, luminescent light from it grew in proportion until everyone had to look away. Once the light died down and everybody could see again they saw that the silver-haired maid, Grayfia had returned. "Ojuo-Sama, the match will be starting shortly; are you prepared?"

"About as prepared as we can be." The redhead said with sigh, her hand coming up to massage brow. Before more could be said she felt to hands on her shoulders offering comfort and support, glancing up to see whom it was. She saw her black haired Queen Akeno offering her a supportive smile on her right and on her left the smirking vision of her blonde haired Rook. Looking past them she could see her entire peerage nodding their support as well. Feeling her resolve strengthened by the show of support Rias gave them a smile before turning back to Grayfia nodding firmly "We are ready."

"Very well. You will be teleported to your chosen site of battle now." The silver-haired maid explained, as soon as she finished speaking a bright light encompassed them all. When they could see again they realized they had returned to a mansion in hills, and Grayfia was no longer among them.

"Didn't we just leave here?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

Rias giggled lightly before she calmed down and approached the coffee table in the middle room. "Yes, I decided to take your advice and choose something completely random for our battle site. I figured since we spent two weeks in these hills training; we know the area well enough that we can maneuver it and because it's so far away from everything else in the area I believed it would give us an advantage over Riser's peerage." She explained pulling out a map and spreading across the table.

"While I'm happy to see that you're listening to me I don't know if being random actually works as a strategy," Naruto said sounding very unsure of himself. "I mean I know it works for me to fly off the handle and do something crazy, but that's just me."

Rias just shrugged small smile "Well we will just have to depend on your luck; because every other scenario ever ran through while we were studying pretty much ended with us all losing." The redhead seemed to take on a gloomier air while she looked down at the map. "I just couldn't seem to figure out a way to take on a superior opponent that would give us the best chances of winning. I mean I know we are stronger but he has more numbers more experience, and to put it bluntly more support. So I got to think of how we could win; and then I remembered your chess match with Sona. You explained that she was distracted unused to dealing with someone who thought like you and was expecting you to play by her rules."

"So you're just ignoring the normal rules and trying to play by your own?" Naruto questioned, trying to understand what she was implying. When the girl nodded Naruto tried to understand what she was thinking hoping that he would get some insight into how she wanted to play this. "So the first step was removing any known territories that you could've chosen beforehand. And because this is a training area he wouldn't think of this as being a battlefield and wouldn't have studied it?"

"Yes that's exactly what I'm hoping." Rias said while she waved everybody to come towards the map. "Because there are no separate buildings on the other side of the ravine the battlefield is just a mirror image of this area. This gives us the advantage of only having three separate entrances into this area, the bridge in the middle of this ravine and the two sides of the cliff faces from these mountains." While she is explaining this Rias was pointing out the points she was talking about on the map. The map they were working with showed an area of the 150 yd.² with the house they were currently standing in being at the back section of the map about 10 yards from the boundary at the back and roughly in the middle of the map from top to bottom. The house was located in the middle of the clearing with the tree line about 50 yards out, the forest they were to be fighting in took up most of the map before the trees thinned out near the middle to show twin ravines.

"That chasm is where I was doing my fire training," Naruto said while pointing to the ravine in the map. "But there's no bridge there and it was a lot larger"

Yuto studied the map for a short amount of time before pointing to a clearing on the south part of the map." That clearing is a lot bigger than it shows on the map."

"Some adjustments had to be made to this world so it'd be a better fighting area," Rias explained with a slight shrugged. "Besides any training you did there probably expanded pretty much everything in the area."

"Well luckily we don't have to contain the destructive nature of our abilities here, right?" Naruto said with a dangerous grin. Rias and Akeno got grins to match his while Koneko and Asia sighed and shook their heads. Yuto however just groaned while muttering to himself about avoiding cross fires, he prayed the shutter down his spine wasn't a forecasting of his doom. The migraine he got would be totally worth it if he could avoid being anywhere nearby when Naruto released any large-scale attacks.

Shaking off the mood and refocusing herself on the coming fight Rias started to lay out her plans. "The way I figure it is Naruto and Koneko will move up the middle and protect the bridge which will be the main area of attack. Akeno I'd like you to go to the southern Cliff face and start moving into their territory. Take out anyone you see but your main focus is to take on Yunabella. Riser likes to send her out to pick off any strays in the area, if we can tie her up we'll have a better chance of taking out most of his peerage." Rias looked around to make sure everybody was still following her and agreed with her ideas. Seeing everybody nod their consent she started to move on "Yuto I'd like you to head towards the north face, your main focus is to take out any pawns start coming into our area. You're doing this because with your speed you can back up and take out any that get past Akeno, we can't afford any of them making here for promotion. After you four leave Asia is going to set up a barrier around the base, while it will not be strong enough to keep anybody out, it will let us know if any make it this close and then I'll take them out. Any questions or suggestions?"

"Are you sure you want to get involved? It'll look kind of unprofessional for you to take out something that isn't another King." Akeno questioned, worried about her Kings social standing and reputation.

"It's because it's unprofessional that it will be unexpected. Right now I'm more worried about making sure we win rather than how it looks when we win." Rias explained, the girl rubbed her eyes as she said this. Even if it looked bad to other high-ranking Devils Rias cared more about making sure she didn't marry Riser and then how it looked to anybody else at the moment, she was sure there would be other rating games that she could make up her standing with. "As I said before; he's a mature devil with a full peerage, I'm not mature with only you five backing me up. As Ace proved we're stronger but I'd rather not let that go to my head, and end up making a mistake. There's too much at stake."

"Very well Buchou, I didn't disagree I just wished it pointed out."

"Thank you Akeno." Rias offered her closest friend a kind and grateful smile. One that the black-haired girl turned eagerly. "Shall we begin?"

Everybody gave a sharp nod except for Naruto who ended up with a large smirk before leading everybody out the door.

* * *

Naruto rushed through the forest leaping from tree to tree to make it to the bridge first. His white-haired fighting partner was just below him running as fast as she could to keep up with his jumps. Neither had to say anything to know what the other was thinking, both because they knew their roles and the two weeks together monumentally added to their already almost unspoken understanding of one another.

Koneko was already focused on her ability to draw in chakra from external sources; in this case mainly from the chakra Naruto was unconsciously releasing. While the process scared her immensely at first the fact that she was taking in Naruto's chakra instead of nature energy helped calm her down, as well as the fact that she needed to do this for someone that was very important to her firmed her resolve to push forward. Knowing her fear Naruto assured her that he would make sure nothing happened to her while doing this; she felt warm whenever she thought about Naruto's promise to her, which is another thing she intended to follow through with after she got done with this fight: making a Naruto take her out on date. The blonde was dense enough he probably didn't even realize he had that effect on her, thus ensuring she had to make the first move.

The two arrived at the bridge before Koneko could delve any deeper into those thoughts. As they came to a stop Naruto took the time to observe the bridge that wasn't there in real life. The structure was 15 feet wide, made with cement and metal railings; given its design, the blonde could only assume it was made from reinforced cement that connected directly into the ground as it was a free-floating structure other than where it connected at either end.

Naruto admitted it was a little disconcerting seeing the same bridge and ravine mirrored 20 yards away without seeing him and Koneko standing at the other end. To pull his mind from it he tried to remember exactly how this plan was supposed to work, as this area was middle ground and the most direct route between each side it was supposed to be a main focus point. The part that had him confused was how Rias explained it, because Riser knew that Rias had a smaller less experienced peerage he would assume that she would come in from either side to try to get a sneak attack but because he knew she would do that she was sending her strongest to the front gate to draw his attention. She also said because Naruto had personally insulted him he'd send his main forced to take blonde boy out right off the bat as an attempt to restore his honor that Naruto insulted. This left Naruto not sure if he was being the distraction, the main attack or just a convenient target; and if Naruto had upset Riser as much as Rias was implying wouldn't the man come directly at him himself not send his peerage?

Naruto shelved his thoughts, as from the woods on the other side of the two ravines appeared a number of Riser's peerage. From the group Naruto was able to pick out the young twins that had the chainsaws, the small blonde girl with the drill hairstyle, the girl in the kimono, staff wielding girl, the girl he was very sure was Chinese descent and the last girl was holding a Zweihänder. "Well at least we won't run out of playmates anytime soon kitten."

"Fried chickens mine."

"Which ones that?" Koneko's response was to point out the blonde with drills like hair. "Right drills is all yours. But who gets the chainsaws?"

Before either of them could answer a large shadow rose from the ground around the two before taking the shape of teeth. Both girls panicked before swinging the chainsaws around at the swelling shadows, as the jaws closed on the girls the others cast out magic trying to dispel the attack. While mostly successful both girls lost their weapons of choice, leaving them to fight barehanded. Watching the deadly attack spewed from the shadows Naruto gained malicious grin before he called out to the other side "Welcome girls! I'm sure you all remember my familiar Thanatos Tabarius?" He questioned with a wave of his hand towards where he felt his familiar rising, having finally thought of a proper name for his loyal companion.

To be continued.

* * *

AN: Sorry all for the slow update. I've been Very sick lately, and almost hospitalized a couple of times because of it. I'm still trying to recover but I got this back from my beta and thought to do my best to get it out as soon as I could.

Omake: Again Dadlop3 is to blame for this, and it has nothing to do with the real story.

Naruto looked around the formerly sealed, unlit room that the girls had led him to with half lidded eyes. He was currently on his second cup of coffee so he wasn't thinking all that clearly at the moment. "Why are we here again Red?" he asked.

"I told you Ace. We're here to get the last member of my Peerage," Rias stated happily. She was looking forward to having all her little family members, the normal ones, together, even if the last member was going to need some work to get him up to speed with the others.

"Gya-kun is shy," Koneko said from slightly behind the boy, making sure he didn't stop and fall asleep on a windowsill or stairwell. If it happened once or twice, or several times, it will happen again.

Grunting quietly while he started peering into the room, the dragon-kin boy spotted a small, very feminine blond figure sitting need the back of the room. She dressed in a Kuoh academy uniform similar to what the girls were wearing. As he was about to greet the admittedly cute looking girl both, he and Thanatos caught a weft of the smells in the air. It was a smell they were unmistakably familiar with. Naruto deadpanned at the shivering hybrid in front of him.

"Oh great. A blond Haku," he muttered while his eye twitched. What the heck was with his luck and meeting people who want to be the other gender? First, there was Haku whose gender is still up for debate. Second there was the urdine who wanted to be a female American Rambo. Then there was the walking tank wanting to be a magician girl. And now...

He then glared at the cup in his hand.

"I'm going to need a _**lot**_ more coffee for this shit."


End file.
